Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (CL) and Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz (CR) on Sunday evening as exit polls come through. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
In the initial election on 16 November, votes were cast concerning 1584 potential heads of local administration, including city mayors (separate votes were cast for seats in regional assemblies).
However, over half of the 1594 posts were not finalised, as in 890 contests, no candidate managed to garner a 50 percent majority.
Only the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round took part in the deciding leg, with polls closing at 9pm on Sunday.
Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, of Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz's centre-right Civic Platform party, was among those to celebrate as exit polls came through late on Sunday night.
According to an Ipsos poll, Gronkiewicz-Waltz took 57 percent of the vote, defeating Jacek Sasin (43 percent), the candidate from conservative opposition party Law and Justice.
In Krakow, independent candidate Jacek Majchrowski appeared to win a fourth term. According to Ipsos, he took 56 percent of the votes, while Marek Lasota (Law and Justice) took 44 percent.
Jacek Majchrowski, incumbent mayor of Krakow, apparently won a another term in office, according to exit polls. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk
In Gdansk, incumbent Pawel Adamowicz (Civic Platform) also triumphed, according to the exit poll, taking 60 percent, whereas Law and Justice candidate Andrzej Jaworski took 40 percent.
In Wroclaw, current mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz (Independent) likewise won (52.7 percent), according to the exit poll, whereas Miroslawa Stachowiak-Rozecka (Law and Justice) took 25.8 percent.
Poznan saw a surprise, with Civic Platform's candidate Jacek Jaskowiak (57 percent ) upstaging independent Ryszard Grobelny (42 percent), who has served as mayor since 1998. (nh)
Source: PAP/IAR