Poland to hold presidential ballot on June 28

Poland will hold its presidential election on June 28, Sejm (lower house) Speaker Elżbieta Witek announced on Wednesday, adding that she had received no objections concerning the proposed election calendar from the State Electoral Commission (PKW).

This means that a potential second round of voting will take place two weeks later, on July 12.

By her Wednesday announcement, Witek restarted the election process after the failed May 10 elections, which were cancelled at the last minute under an agreement by the ruling coalition leaders and amid technical problems with organising the vote, which was to be an all-postal one.

At the Wednesday press conference, the Sejm speaker accused the opposition of obstructing the May 10 vote and criticised the Senate for using up nearly the whole legally-allowed period of 30 days to process the previous election bill.

Witek expressed hope that the election campaign will be fair and that all the election activities will be carried out efficiently.

According to the new election law, Poles will be able to vote in polling stations with adherence to a strict sanitary regime, or by post.

Candidates registered for the May 10 vote will not have to re-register for the new ballot, but new candidates will need to gather 100,000 signatures to run in the election. For the time being, this concerns Rafał Trzaskowski, the candidate of the main opposition bloc, the centrist Civic Coalition, whose previous candidate, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, withdrew from the race amid falling support.

According to PAP's information, the PKW-approved election calendar gives new campaign committees time until Friday to register and their candidates will have to collect 100,000 signatures by next Wednesday.

Poland's parliament passed the relevant bill on Tuesday afternoon and President Andrzej Duda signed it into law on the same day.