The Supreme Court of Poland has upheld the reelection of President Andrzej Duda. Supporters of the opposition candidate, Rafal Trzaskowski of the Civic Platform party, had contested the outcome of the election through several petitions to the apex court.

The court received over 5,800 complaints related to voter registration, failure to receive ballots in time and challenges with diaspora voting. Only 93 of the complaints were upheld, and the supreme court decided they were not sufficient enough to affect the turnout of the elections.

“The Supreme Court confirms the validity of the election of Andrzej Sebastian Duda to the Polish presidency,” judge Ewa Stefanska had said in her ruling.

Facts to Consider

• In 2015, President Duda was elected president of Poland on the platform of the justice party (PiS) but resigned his membership soon as he came into office. He ran as an independent candidate in the 2020 elections but still had popular support from members of the PiS.
• Duda received 44% of votes in the first round of voting on June 28 and 51.03% in the runoff elections which held 2 weeks later. 
• The elections were originally scheduled for May but were postponed because of the COVID19 pandemic.
• Duda’s support base fell considerably because of a financial and economic crisis that has seen the country experience its first recession since 1989. 

Bottomline

Duda’s reelection campaign focused on ruling out giving wartime compensation to the Jewish people who asked to be compensated for assets seized from them during the Holocaust where more than 90% of Jews living in Poland were killed and their properties were either looted or nationalised.

Duda and the PiS party insist Poland owes no restitution to Israel, claiming they were victims as well. He also pledged to ensure LGBTQ rights are not upheld in Poland, describing it as a foreign idea. Duda’s reelection will strengthen Poland’s political alliance with the United States of America and his relationship with President Donald Trump, who has been his ally and supporter. Trump pledged to send over a thousand US troops to Poland.