Kraków votes today in runoff between Gibała and Piątkowska for mayor

The runoff

Residents of Kraków are choosing a successor to Aleksander Miszalski (KO), who was removed as city president in a referendum in May. No candidate in the first round won more than half of the validly cast votes, so a second round is required between the two leading candidates, Łukasz Gibała and Monika Piątkowska. Polling stations open at 7:00 and will close at 21:00, when electoral silence ends unless voting is extended. The runoff uses the same polling stations as the first round, spread across 454 voting precincts in the city.

First-round result

Gibała finished first in the first round with 36.38% of the vote, or 93,042 ballots. Piątkowska placed second with 29.91%, or 76,514 votes. The runoff is contested only by the two candidates with the best first-round results. Both shares are set out in the chart below.

Who may vote and how

Only adults with active voting rights who are permanently resident in Kraków and entered in the permanent precinct list of the Central Voter Register may vote, and voters must bring an identity document. Of the 454 precincts, 412 are permanent and 42 are separate ones set up in hospitals, care homes, social welfare homes and detention centres. The city has arranged free transport for people with disabilities and older people with mobility difficulties, with bookings taken by phone at 12 323 32 40 or 12 616 50 76 until 21:00 today. Voters cannot change their polling place or obtain a voting certificate for this round.

Barbara Golanko, head of the Kraków delegation of the National Electoral Office, advised voters to check that the ballot bears the seal of the precinct commission, and then to mark it as follows:

As always, we vote for one candidate by placing an X, two intersecting lines inside the box.

Until polls close, electoral silence bans campaigning for any candidate, including publishing material meant to persuade voters, hanging new posters and destroying legally placed campaign materials.

Counting and the official result

Precinct results are expected to appear on the website wybory.gov.pl in real time as protocols arrive from polling stations after voting ends, Golanko told PAP. She stressed that the official result is the paper protocol published by the Municipal Electoral Commission at Plac Wszystkich Świętych, and that this commission, not the National Electoral Commission (PKW), determines the result of this by-election. Turnout data will not be published during voting, as in the first round. The timeline below marks the opening, closing and publication stages as the sources describe them.