Polish Top Court Rules President Duda’s Re-election Was Valid

(Bloomberg) -- Poland's Supreme Court ruled that the July 12 presidential election won by incumbent Andrzej Duda was valid and that minor irregularities didn't affect the outcome.

The ruling paves the way for Duda to start a new five-year term and defeats a legal challenge from the campaign of opposition-backed Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who lost to the president in the runoff vote.

It also allows Duda's allies in the ruling Law & Justice party to maintain momentum in reshaping Poland from a nation hailed as a model of post-communist change to one battling against the European Union's democratic values.

The court ruled earlier that, while 92 of more than 5,000 complaints of election irregularities were legitimate, they didn't alter result. It also rejected an opposition challenge saying that pre-election coverage from public television was biased and that Poles living abroad faced obstacles when trying to cast ballots.

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