Warsaw, June 2 (UNI) Karol Nawrocki, an independent candidate backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, won Poland's presidential runoff election, according to the final vote count released by Polish National Electoral Commission (PKW) early Monday.

The final result, reading "Elected in the second round," was written next to Nawrocki's name on the public website of PKW on Monday.

Nawrocki, a historian and head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, received 50.89 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff, ahead of Rafal Trzaskowski, the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) candidate and mayor of Warsaw, who garnered 49.11 percent.

This was Nawrocki's first presidential campaign -- an uphill battle from the start. He consistently trailed Trzaskowski in polls, including Sunday evening's initial exit survey.

Born in 1983 in Gdansk, Nawrocki is set to succeed the incumbent president Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term ends on Aug. 6.

UNI XC GNK