More than 93,000 voters backed Gibała. Piątkowska, supported by the Civic Coalition and Polish People’s Party, received 76,514 votes. Law and Justice candidate Michał Drewnicki placed third with 17.50% (44,772 votes), followed by Aleksandra Owca of Razem with 6.91% (17,684). Daria Gosek-Popiołek of the Left received 4.81%, Michał Klimek 4.11%, and Sławomir Pietrzyk 0.37%.
At his election-night event, Gibała said his team would continue campaigning for the decisive second round scheduled for 11 October. Piątkowska said the coming days could bring online abuse and framed the choice as one between orderly, predictable change and the risk of chaos.
The early election followed a May referendum that removed former mayor Aleksander Miszalski of the Civic Coalition from office. Jan Hoffman, who initiated the referendum, withdrew from the race in the final week of the campaign; votes cast for him were ruled invalid.
The official count differed substantially from an Ipsos exit poll for TVP, TVN and Polsat. The poll put Piątkowska at 24.4%, compared with her final 29.91%; it projected 19.6% for Drewnicki versus 17.50% officially and 8.7% for Owca versus 6.91%. The gaps prompted public criticism of the exit-poll estimates.