The second round of early elections in Zabrze has concluded. Who is the city's new mayor?

• Ewa Weber and Kamil Żbikowski received the most votes in the first round two weeks ago.
• Polling stations in Zabrze were open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• The search in the city went smoothly.

In the second round of the early elections for the mayor of Zabrze, Ewa Weber (Ewa Weber’s electoral commission) and Kamil Żbikowski (Kamil Żbikowski’s Lepsze Zabrze electoral commission) faced off.

In the first round, Weber received 39.29 percent of the votes, and Żbikowski 16.14 percent. Other candidates: Borys Borówka - 15.29 percent, Sebastian Dziębowski - 14.09 percent, Rafał Kobos - 9.88 percent, Łucja Chrzęstek-Bar - 5.31 percent. Turnout was 27.87 percent.

In Zabrze, a city with a population of 140,000, approximately 116,700 residents were eligible to vote. A total of 89 district electoral commissions were established.

Sunday's voting in the city took place without disruption. The results of the second round of early elections in Zabrze will be announced after the commissions count all the votes cast, either tonight or tomorrow morning.

The early election of the mayor of Zabrze was necessary because Agnieszka Rupniewska was removed from office in the May referendum. However, the turnout threshold necessary to recall the Zabrze City Council was not met.

Rupniewska governed Zabrze for a year. In 2024, she won the local elections. In the second round, she received more votes than Małgorzata Mańka-Szulik, who had led the city for 18 years – from 2006.

Two previous referenda in the Silesian Voivodeship resulted in the dismissal of local government officials. In 2009, residents recalled Mayor Tadeusz Wrona of Częstochowa, and in 2012, Mayor Piotr Koj of Bytom and the city council.

In 2009, unsuccessful attempts were made to recall the mayor of Gliwice, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, and the city council; in 2012, the mayor of Ruda Śląska, Grażyna Dziedzic, and the city council; and in 2017, the mayor of Bytom, Damian Bartyla. In all three cases, the turnout during the referendum proved too low.