Poland votes in tight election as Europe watches

Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Warsaw, Poland, on May 18, 2025, during the first round of the presidential elections. [AFP]

Poles began voting Sunday in a tight presidential election that will be decisive for the future of the country's centrist government as well as for abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Pro-EU Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is expected to get 30 percent, according to opinion polls, ahead of nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki's 25 percent.