Kraków has a new mayor, and his first headline-making decision came within a day of the count. Łukasz Gibała, an independent, won the snap mayoral election held on Sunday, 11 October 2026, defeating Monika Piątkowska of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO).
The vote was called after Gibała’s predecessor, Aleksander Miszalski, was removed in a recall referendum in May.
Patronage withdrawn from the equality march
The day after his victory, Gibała said City Hall would withdraw its official patronage of Kraków’s annual equality march, explaining that he “will avoid sponsoring events that have a partisan character.” In his view the organisers had “simply become partisan” over roughly the past three years. He did not name anyone, but one of the organisers, Magdalena Dropek, has stood for parliament three times for The Left (Lewica), a member of Tusk’s ruling coalition.
The decision does not ban the event. The march — held every May since 2004 and drawing thousands of people — can still take place; it simply loses the city’s formal backing. Former mayor Jacek Majchrowski became an honorary patron in 2021, and Miszalski in 2024 became the first sitting mayor to walk in it. Gibała said he has attended marches himself in the past and does not regret it.
Same-sex marriage registrations will continue
Gibała also said Kraków would keep transcribing same-sex marriages concluded abroad into the Polish civil registry, as required following an EU court ruling — framing it as a “legalist” respect for current law. According to PAP data cited by Notes from Poland, 516 such marriages have been registered in Poland so far, 46 of them in Kraków.
What happens next
Gibała takes office in the coming days. How City Hall handles other events and organisations it has traditionally backed will be an early test of his promise to keep the mayor’s office above party politics.
Source: Notes from Poland, 14 October 2026.