WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2020) The turnout in the first round of the presidential election in Poland was 24.08 percent after five hours of voting, according to the head of the National Electoral Commission Sylwester Marciniak said on Sunday.
Polling stations across Poland opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT). A total of 15 candidates are running for the presidency, including the incumbent head of state, Andrzej Duda, and if none of them wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held on July 12.
"According to the data provided by 100 percent of the [local] commissions, there are 29,526,533 people eligible to vote. As of noon [10:00 GMT], 7,108,803 ballot papers were issued, which is 24.08 percent," Marciniak said at a press conference.
According to the electoral commission head, the highest turnout of 26.36 percent is observed in the Mazovian voivodeship, while the lowest turnout of 20.6 percent has been registered in the Opole voivodeship. As for major cities, in Warsaw, this figure amounts to 29.59 percent, while in Gdansk, people seem less willing to vote in the election with the turnout standing at 22.11 percent.
Marciniak noted that the voter activity at the moment was almost twice as high as in the previous presidential election. In 2015, the turnout at noon was 14.61 percent. He stated that only minor offenses are recorded during the voting process that "cannot affect election results."
