Polish leader Andrzej Duda wins re-election in closest race since 1989

July 13 (UPI) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda has won re-election in Poland's presidential race, edging Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski in a runoff, electoral officials said Monday.

The National Electoral Commission said Duda defeated Trzaskowski 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent in Sunday's vote.

The conservative incumbent, Duda campaigned on a "family values" and anti-gay rights agenda.

The results will allow Duda's Law and Justice Party (PiS) to continue its rule of Polish politics through 2023, when parliamentary elections will be held.

Duda, a devout Catholic, campaigned on traditional Polish religious values as the race tightened with Trzaskowski, Warsaw's liberal mayor. Duda won support from older voters and those who lived in small towns and the countryside -- while Trzaskowski captured younger voters and those living in larger cities and the west.

Duda and Trzaskowski survived the first round of voting with 11 presidential candidates two weeks ago. The election was originally scheduled to take place in May but it was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. The delay seemed to help Trzaskowski's campaign and the challenger closed in to make Sunday's the closest Polish presidential election since 1989.