(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, 10 LUG - Poland, the EU's sixth-largest economy, will hold a presidential election on Sunday, weeks after the ballot was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is running for re-election in a knife-edge contest on Sunday, is a loyal ally of the ruling populists. A second five-year term for the 48-year-old lawyer would improve the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party's chances of moving ahead with its agenda. Defeat at the hands of liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski could instead unravel PiS's influence. Duda has rarely said no to powerful PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and is known for waving through policies including controversial judicial reforms.

The challenger for the Polish presidency, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, is a liberal who has promised to turn Poland firmly towards the European Union. A former deputy foreign minister, the 48-year-old is also the son of a jazz pioneer and great-grandson of the man who created Poland's first schools for girls. Trzaskowski only joined the race against right-wing President Andrzej Duda at the last minute, after the vote was delayed in May because of the virus pandemic. He is the candidate of the opposition party Civic Platform in Sunday's run-off, while Duda is backed by the governing Law and Justice Party. Polls indicate the two are neck-and-neck. (ANSA-AFP).