Andrzej Duda, Poland's president since 2015 and recently re-elected to sit another five-year term, took the oath in a ceremony at the Warsaw-based parliament's lower house, the Sejm, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) Andrzej Duda, Poland's president since 2015 and recently re-elected to sit another five-year term, took the oath in a ceremony at the Warsaw-based parliament's lower house, the Sejm, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday.
On July 12, Duda won a narrow-margin victory over his key opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski from the opposition Civic Platform party, in the second round of a pandemic-disrupted presidential vote.
"It was a complicated election. Poland has never had one like that. The pandemic and related restrictions, the replacement of candidates, the postponement," Duda said in his address, going on to thank people who came to vote, "both those who voted for me and those who voted for my opponents."
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Polish lawmakers from both parliamentary houses, former presidents and prime ministers, diplomats and politicians, including Trzaskowski and other opposition politicians.
The re-elected president urged for the reduction of political tensions in the country, adding that "today, Poland needs democracy more than ever."
Duda's was sworn in by Sejm Speaker �Elzbieta Witek, in accordance with protocols.
After the ceremony, the politician headed to the presidential palace where he is expected to hear a report from the Warsaw military garrison commander.
There will be a festive church service to mark Duda's inauguration later in the day.
