Kraków, Poland Early mayoral election 2026 (przedterminowe wybory prezydenta Krakowa) — Live Results & Map

Why Kraków is voting again

Kraków elects a mayor on Sunday 27 September 2026, two and a half years into a term that was supposed to run to 2029. The vote is a przedterminowe wybory — an early election — held because the city removed the incumbent. On 24 May 2026 Kraków held a recall referendum on both the mayor, Aleksander Miszalski of the Civic Coalition (KO), and the city council. The referendum on the mayor cleared its turnout threshold and passed overwhelmingly; the one on the council did not clear its own, higher threshold, so the council elected in 2024 stays in place. Kraków therefore votes for a mayor alone, and whoever wins serves out the remainder of the 2024–2029 term rather than starting a fresh one.

How the recall happened

The recall campaign began in late January 2026 with a citizens' committee of 21 people chaired by Jan Hoffman, a district councillor from Stare Miasto, and drew support from parties as far apart as Law and Justice (PiS), Konfederacja, Razem and Łukasz Gibała's Kraków dla Mieszkańców. Its organisers cited the city's rising debt, accusations of patronage in municipal appointments, the way the clean transport zone (SCT) was introduced, and increases in public-transport and paid-parking charges. They submitted more than 130,000 signatures on 11 March against a legal requirement of 58,355 — ten per cent of the electorate — and the electoral commissioner called the referendum for 24 May.

The result was decisive. According to the city referendum commission, 176,228 people voted, a turnout of 29.99%, and 171,581 valid votes — 97.93% — were cast for removing the mayor against 3,631 (2.07%) opposed. Under Polish law a recall referendum is only binding if at least three fifths of the number who elected the office-holder take part: 158,555 voters for the mayor, and 179,792 for the council. The mayoral question passed that bar; the council question, on a near-identical turnout of 29.97%, fell about 3,700 voters short and was declared invalid even though 96.16% of those who voted wanted the council gone. It was the first successful recall of a Kraków mayor — an earlier attempt against Jacek Majchrowski in 2016 never reached a vote for want of signatures.

The election did not follow immediately. Four protests against the referendum's validity were lodged with the Kraków Regional Court, which examined one on its merits and dismissed it on 17 June; the Kraków Court of Appeal rejected the subsequent appeal on 28 July, at which point the referendum was final and the prime minister could set a polling date. That is why a May referendum produced a September election.

The rules: an absolute majority, or a run-off

A Polish mayor (prezydent miasta) is elected directly. A candidate who wins more than half of the valid votes in the first round is elected outright; if nobody does, the two best-placed candidates meet in a run-off exactly two weeks later — Sunday 11 October 2026 — where a simple plurality decides. Polls are open from 07:00 to 21:00 local time on both days. Candidates are nominated by electoral committees, which may be political parties, coalitions, associations or ad-hoc committees of voters; committee registration ran through August and candidate lists close on 3 September 2026, so the field is confirmed only a few weeks before polling day. This page names candidates as PKW publishes them rather than in advance.

Recent history suggests a close race. In 2024 Miszalski led the first round with 37.21% and won the run-off against Łukasz Gibała with 51.04% — 133,703 votes, a margin of roughly two points — on a turnout of about 45%. The May 2026 referendum drew 30%. An early election held on its own, with no national or regional contest alongside it, usually turns out fewer voters than a scheduled local election, which makes the size of the turnout one of the things worth watching on the night.

How the count reaches this page

Kraków is divided into 412 permanent polling districts (obwody głosowania), plus a handful of separate districts created for hospitals and care homes. Each district commission counts its own ballots and files a protocol; the National Electoral Commission (Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza) publishes those protocols on wybory.gov.pl as the city commission approves them, so the count arrives as a stream of several hundred small updates over the hours after 21:00 rather than as a few official announcements. ElectioMap reads that same official feed directly and republishes it here, adding up the approved protocols as they land.

Two figures on this page are deliberately withheld until PKW marks the count complete. A turnout percentage computed mid-count is not participation at all — it is the share of the vote that has been counted so far, and it climbs towards the true figure as protocols arrive, so publishing it early would be simply wrong. A winner is withheld for the same reason: Kraków's districts vote very differently from one another, and a lead over the first thirty districts is not a result. Vote shares, by contrast, are honest at every stage as long as you know how much of the count they rest on, so every update states how many of the 412 districts are in.

Reading the district map

The map breaks the city into its 18 administrative districts (dzielnice), from Dzielnica I Stare Miasto to Dzielnica XVIII Nowa Huta, colouring each by its leading candidate. The assignment of polling districts to city districts comes from Kraków's own municipal spatial system (MSIP), not from guesswork about addresses, so each of the 412 polling districts sits where the city says it sits. Click any district for the full candidate breakdown there, and — once the count is complete — its own turnout. Districts whose protocols have not yet arrived stay grey rather than being coloured on partial data.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Kraków mayoral election?

Sunday 27 September 2026, with polls open from 07:00 to 21:00 local time. If no candidate wins more than half of the valid votes, a run-off between the top two follows on Sunday 11 October 2026.

Why is Kraków holding an early election?

Because the city recalled its mayor. In a referendum on 24 May 2026, 171,581 valid votes — 97.93% — were cast for removing Aleksander Miszalski (Civic Coalition), on a turnout of 29.99% that cleared the legal threshold of 158,555 voters. The winner in September serves out the rest of the 2024–2029 term.

Was the city council recalled too?

No. The same referendum asked separately about the council, and 96.16% of those voting backed removing it, but that question needed 179,792 voters to be valid and drew 29.97% turnout — about 3,700 short. The council elected in 2024 keeps its mandate, so only the mayor is being elected.

Why did the election take four months to arrange?

Four protests against the referendum's validity were filed with the Kraków Regional Court, which dismissed the one it heard on the merits on 17 June 2026; the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal on 28 July. Only once the referendum was legally final could the prime minister set a polling date.

Who is standing?

Electoral committees registered through August 2026 and candidate lists close on 3 September, so the field is confirmed only weeks before the vote. This page lists candidates as the National Electoral Commission publishes them, alongside the committee that nominated each one, rather than naming an expected field in advance.

How quickly will the result be known?

Kraków counts in 412 polling districts and each files its own protocol, which PKW publishes as the city commission approves it. Protocols normally begin arriving within an hour of the 21:00 close and the picture is usually clear the same night, though the certified city protocol — and with it the official turnout — can follow the next day.

Where do the figures on this page come from?

Directly from the National Electoral Commission's own election-night data at wybory.gov.pl. ElectioMap reads the published polling-district protocols and adds them up; the turnout figure and any winner are shown only once the commission marks the count complete, while vote shares are shown throughout alongside the number of districts counted.

What does the map show?

Kraków's 18 administrative districts (dzielnice), each coloured by the candidate leading there. Polling districts are matched to city districts using the city's own spatial data (MSIP). Click a district for the full breakdown of votes there, and for its turnout once counting is finished.

Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.