Nationalist Nawrocki wins Polish presidential election
Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at the University of Warsaw, called the election "a real clash of civilisations".
CAMPAIGN CONTROVERSIES
Nawrocki's victory is likely to embolden the populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled Poland between 2015 and 2023.
Some analysts have predicted it could lead to fresh parliamentary elections if political deadlock with the government persists.
Nawrocki's campaign was overshadowed at times by controversies over the circumstances in which he bought an apartment from an elderly man and his football hooligan past.
A former amateur boxer, Nawrocki also strongly denied media reports in the last days of the campaign that he had procured sex workers while working as a security guard at a hotel.
His opposition to Ukraine's NATO membership also brought heavy criticism from Ukrainian officials.
Nawrocki used his last campaign hours on Friday to leave flowers at a monument to Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.
"It was a genocide against the Polish people," he said.
Poland is an EU and NATO member and a fast-growing economy of 38 million people with a leading role in international diplomacy surrounding Ukraine.
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