POLAND’S voters have re-elected President Andrzej Duda for a second five-year term, with the conservative populist narrowly defeating Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. 

Mr Duda won won 51.21 per cent of the vote against 48.79 per cent for Mr Trzaskowski in Sunday’s second-round run-off, the electoral commission said.

Turnout was a record 68.12 per cent and there were reports of people queuing up to vote, especially at seaside resorts where many Poles were on holiday.

Mr Duda’s victory will test an already strained relationship with the European Union, particularly over a widely criticised overhaul of the judiciary.

With the final result so close, legal challenges are expected. Mr Trzaskowski’s opposition Civic Platform said that it was gathering information on “irregularities.”

Mr Duda, of the nationalist Law and Justice party, caused outrage during the campaign by branding LGBT rights an “ideology” more damaging than communism.

The election had been due to take place in May but was delayed by the global Covid-19 pandemic.