Conservative Karol Nawrocki has won Poland’s weekend presidential runoff election, according to the final vote count.
Nawrocki won 50.89 percent of votes in a tight race against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who won 49.11 percent.
Nawrocki, 42, a historian and amateur boxer who ran a national remembrance institute, campaigned on a promise to ensure economic and social policies favour Poles over other nationalities, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine.
While Poland's parliament holds most power, the president can veto legislation, and the vote was being watched closely in Ukraine as well as Russia, the United States and across the European Union.
‘Polan first, Poles first’
He pledged to continue Poland's support for neighbouring Ukraine against Russia's war, he has denounced the benefits given to war refugees.
It could also undermine strong ties with neighbouring Ukraine, as he is critical of Kiev's EU and NATO accession plans and wants to cut benefits for Ukrainian refugees.
Many Nawrocki supporters said they want stricter curbs on immigration and advocate conservative social values and more sovereignty for the country within the European Union.
Nawrocki campaigned under the slogan "Poland first, Poles first".
Nawrocki visited the White House during his campaign and said he had been told by Trump: "You will win."
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also endorsed Nawrocki when she attended a conservative conference in Poland last week, saying, "He needs to be the next president."
