After polling stations closed at 9 p.m., Polsat News presented two independent exit polls conducted by Ipsos and the Nationwide Research Group (OGB). Both surveys put Łukasz Gibała and Monika Piątkowska in line for the second round of Kraków’s early mayoral election.
Ipsos estimated Gibała at 36.6 percent and Piątkowska at 24.4 percent. Michał Drewnicki was at 19.6 percent, Aleksandra Owca at 8.7 percent, Daria Gosek-Popiołek at 6.1 percent, Michał Klimek at 4.2 percent and Sławomir Pietrzyk at 0.4 percent. OGB’s separate poll put Gibała at 35.7 percent and Piątkowska at 28.4 percent, a notably higher estimate for her.
Seven candidates contested the first round. Jan Hoffman withdrew on September 23, but his name remained on the ballot. Municipal Election Commission chair Krzysztof Dyl said the law does not allow a withdrawn candidate’s name to be removed or new ballots to be printed after the ballot packs have been produced.
Voting ran from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. across 454 precincts: 412 permanent precincts and 42 additional locations, including hospitals and detention centres. Voters had to mark an X beside one candidate for a ballot to count. An incident was reported in which a voter tore up and discarded a ballot.
The election commission chair estimated that final results would be available between 3 and 4 a.m. and posted at the city hall. A runoff was scheduled for October 11. The figures reported by the two broadcasters are exit-poll estimates, not official results.