Łukasz Gibała sworn in as Kraków mayor after winning 62.12% in runoff

Oath and insignia

Łukasz Gibała formally took office as president of Kraków on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, during a solemn session of the city council held at the city hall on Plac Wszystkich Świętych. Krzysztof Dyl, chair of the municipal electoral commission, handed him the document confirming his election. After swearing the oath, he received the chain of office and the key to the city gates from Stanisław Kracik, who had been acting as president in recent months. Aleksander Miszalski of Koalicja Obywatelska attended the ceremony, as did senator Monika Piątkowska, Gibała's runoff rival. Miszalski had been removed from office in a municipal referendum on 24 May 2026.

Election result

Gibała won the runoff held on 11 October with 62.12% of the vote, more than 162,000 voters. Piątkowska, backed by KO and PSL, received 37.88%, or over 98,000 voters. Turnout in the runoff was 44.27% in a city with nearly 600,000 eligible voters and about 720,000 residents. In the first round Gibała led with 36.38%, ahead of Piątkowska on 29.91% and Michał Drewnicki, the PiS candidate, on 17.5%. Michał Klimek, the Confederation of the Polish Crown candidate, took 4.11% and Sławomir Pietrzyk finished last with 0.37%.

An appeal across party lines

In his address to the council Gibała called for cooperation across party lines and said voters had backed him despite differing political views. He described the city as having fallen into crisis after more than 20 years of what he called unsuccessful rule. He listed public finances, a tourism and business-services economy, spatial planning, public transport and trust in city authorities among the areas affected, and said he was deeply convinced the tasks could be handled together.

Let us set aside what divided us and what divides us, and focus on what unites us.

He added that determination to lead the city out of the crisis should be the common ground for the new administration and councillors.

Council and first decisions

Gibała told wPolsce24 that his term would be shorter because of the earlier referendum and that city finances were in a dire state. The council is due to meet on 21 October to debate lowering public transport fares, restoring the tariffs that his predecessor, Aleksander Miszalski, had raised. Gibała called this the first decision of his term and said the administration would start work from 21 October. He also said the new administration would start cutting costs at its own level, pointing to the inaugural banquet that traditionally follows a swearing-in and that would not be held this time. He noted that a majority in the council, where KO and Nowa Lewica hold the seats, still has to be built.

Council oversight

The council chair had promised close scrutiny of the new president. Gibała replied that supervising the mayor is a statutory duty of the council, and said Platforma councillors had not been inclined to do so while a president from their own camp was in office. He said he was not afraid of scrutiny but hoped councillors would not be too embittered by defeat. Kraków lawyer Jan Hoffman, who had withdrawn from the mayoral race, drew the same contrast.

Very good, this is the council's control function.

Hoffman also hoped that oversight would be carried out without malice toward the president's citizen initiatives.

Remaining challenges

The May referendum that removed Miszalski also fell just short of removing the council itself. Councillors who until recently formed the support base of the removed mayor now have to work with his successor. Gibała has said his tenure will be shorter than a full term, and he faces an indebted city with a council he must win over. The new administration's first test comes at the council session on 21 October.