On Sunday, residents of 748 communes and cities in Poland will choose commune heads, mayors and presidents in the second round of local government elections. On TVN24 and TVN24 GO we will follow the voting process throughout Poland. The Election Evening will begin at 8:30 p.m., during which we will present the poll results and the first comments.
The Election Evening on TVN24 will start at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday and will last until midnight. It will be hosted by Justyna Kosela, Radomir Wit and Mateusz Walczak.
TVN24 journalists and reporters will report the exit poll results of the second round of the mayoral elections in Kraków, Wrocław and Rzeszów. In total, they will monitor the situation in 60 cities where the second round of local elections will be held.
Politicians, publicists and political scientists will comment on the election results, and Mateusz Walczak will analyze them in a virtual studio. Election Evening plans also include talks with the winners of the second round.
Second round of local government elections
The second round of the 2024 local elections will be held on Sunday, April 21. Residents of those places where the first round was inconclusive will vote. Village heads, mayors and presidents will be elected in 748 communes and cities.
Voting will take place, among others: in 60 presidential cities, including nine provincial cities: Gorzów Wielkopolski, Kielce, Kraków, Olsztyn, Poznań, Rzeszów, Toruń, Wrocław and Zielona Góra. Residents of cities such as: Bełchatów, Bielsko-Biała, Częstochowa, Elbląg, Gdynia, Gliwice, Inowrocław, Jelenia Góra, Konin, Koszalin, Ostrołęka, Piła, Przemyśl, Radom, Rybnik, Skarżysko-Kamienna, Słupsk, Suwałki, Tczew, Tychy, Wejherowo, Włocławek or Zamość .
Although the vote does not cover the whole of Poland, election silence applies to the entire country and lasts from midnight Friday to Saturday (April 19-20) until the end of voting on Sunday at 9 p.m.
During the election silence, canvassing for candidates is prohibited. It is not allowed to display posters, hand out leaflets or organize meetings related to the elections. Displaying symbols, signs and inscriptions associated with candidates and election committees is prohibited in the polling station. You are also not allowed to agitate on the Internet.
Head of the National Electoral Commission: this year, 20 percent more people are entitled to vote
At Friday's press conference, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, provided statistical data on the second round. – In the next elections of mayors, scheduled for April 21, 11,888 voting districts were created, including 11,099 permanent and 789 separate ones. In these communes where commune leaders will be elected, the number of inhabitants is 14,778,593 people, and the number of voters, i.e. people entitled to vote, is equivalent to 12,049,292 people – he said.
The head of the National Election Commission recalled that in the 2018 local elections, the second round took place in a much smaller number of municipalities, in less than 650 municipalities, while there were less than 10 million people entitled to vote. – This year, 20 percent more people are entitled to vote – he noted.
Marciniak: in 2018, the second round took place on a smaller scaleTVN24
Providing data on the division of candidates by gender, the head of the National Electoral Commission said that “parity does not look good.” – There are only 20.59 percent of women, and almost 80 percent of men, 79.41 percent to be precise. The average age of candidates for municipal mayors is less than 50 years, said Marciniak. He also said that the youngest candidate for commune mayor is 25 years old and the oldest is 77 years old.
The head of the National Electoral Commission also expressed hope that the official results of the second round of local elections will be known on Monday.
Main photo source: TVN24