Rafal Trzaskowski, the Warsaw mayor, appeared to have won the first round of the election. Prime Minister Donald Tusk is hoping his eventual victory will help push through a liberal agenda.

Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski won a narrow victory in Poland's presidential election, according to an exit poll, but a second-round run-off with conservative historian Karol Nawrocki will be required in two weeks' time to decide the country's next president.

IT WAS NO surprise that Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, finished ahead of Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by the main hard-right opposition party, in the first round of the country’s presidential elections on May 18th.