News Analysis: Poland blows wind of change by electing Duda president

The official results released by the National Election Commission on Monday have shown that the candidate of Law and Justice main opposition party, Andrzej Duda, had obtained 51.55 percent of votes in the country's presidential run-off election and is going to replace Bronislaw Komorowski as the country's head of state.

Many are surprised by the results, not only because Duda managed to defeated Komorowski, who enjoyed around 60 percent popularity in the previous surveys, but mostly because there exists the vast disparity between the results of the two candidates.

While Duda is preparing for his presidency and the challenges ahead, a majority of which are promises he made during his campaign.

One of the main reasons of Duda being elected is the whole society being tired of the ruling Civic Platform and Polish People's Party coalition.

Therefore, voting for Duda was in many case a sign of opposition against the current government, therefore should rather be seen as voting against Komorowski, a representative of Civic Platform.

Many people point out, that Duda's campaign was better than Komorowski's, more dynamic, closer to people and more appealing, however some criticize him for giving empty promises, which would be hard or impossible to fulfill.

Another reason is that those who voted for Pawel Kukiz, a rock musician in the first round of the elections, were also heavily disappointed by the current situation and decided to vote against Komorowski, seeking for a change.

Duda has got best election results in rural areas and smaller towns, while the voters from major cities, the main electorate of Komorowski, failed to guarantee sufficient attendance.

Komorowski's defeat was preceded by a series of events, concerning the ruling Civic Platform, such as the wiretapping of major politicians, former Prime Minister Donald Tusk heading for EU post and his replacement of Ewa Kopacz, who lacks his charisma, some local affairs, insolence and arrogance of the politicians, which resulted in a growing discontent of society.

Experts commenting on the election results pay attention to various aspects of this matter. Professor Wawrzyniec Konarski, political scientist from Jagiellonian University in Krakow points out that a good result of Duda is not a matter of people supporting Law and Justice, but rather voting against Civic Platform, as a punishment for party abandoning its founding ideas: liberalism in the economic matters and conservative world view.

Rafal Chwedoruk PhD from the Warsaw University underlines the fact that Law and Justice managed to unite a coalition of people dissatisfied with the current political situation. The changes in pension system were a breakthrough which resulted in a vast discontent and an increase in anti-governmental moods.

Chwedoruk forecasts that a good result in presidential election might guarantee a good result in parliamentary election which is to be held in the autumn. Endit