Łukasz Gibała took the oath of office on Tuesday, 20 October, during a ceremonial session of the Kraków City Council and officially assumed the office of city mayor. The insignia of power were handed to him by Stanisław Kracik, who had served as acting mayor after Aleksander Miszalski was removed from office.
The ceremonial, 62nd session of the Kraków City Council began at 6:30 p.m. in the council chamber of the city hall at Plac Wszystkich Świętych, as announced by the official city website. The broadcast was run on the city’s Facebook and YouTube profiles.
Course of the ceremony
As reported by Polsat News and RMF24, Gibała first received from Krzysztof Dyl, chairman of the city electoral commission, the document confirming his election as mayor of Kraków. He then took the oath. According to Polsat News, the oath read: „Obejmując urząd prezydenta miasta, uroczyście ślubuję, że dochowam wierności prawu, a powierzony mi urząd sprawować będę tylko dla dobra publicznego i pomyślności mieszkańców miasta”.
After the oath, the new mayor received the chain and the key to the city. They were handed over by Stanisław Kracik, who had previously been Miszalski’s deputy and had run the city since the mayor’s removal. As „Rzeczpospolita” reports, the ceremony was attended, among others, by Aleksander Miszalski. According to Interia, senator Monika Piątkowska, Gibała’s rival in the race, was also among the guests.
Road to office
Miszalski (KO) was removed from office in a municipal referendum in May. At the end of July, a court made the referendum’s validity final. The first round of the early mayoral election did not produce a winner, and Gibała and Piątkowska advanced to the runoff.
In the runoff on 11 October, Gibała won 62.12% of the vote, or 161,184 votes, according to the city’s announcement. Piątkowska, backed by KO and PSL, received 37.88%. Turnout was 44.27% (according to Polsat News). The official results were announced on 12 October, and the oath was taken within the statutory deadline.
Gibała is a city councillor, entrepreneur and founder of the Kraków dla Mieszkańców association. He is a former MP for Platforma Obywatelska (PO) and Ruch Palikota, and a former academic at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University (UJ).
What next
Gibała will serve as mayor until the end of the current term, which is about 2.5 years. One of his first decisions is expected to be appointing deputies; the mayor may have up to four. Local media name councillors Łukasz Maślona and Michał Starobrat in this context, but these are so far only speculation, and no names have been announced.
On Wednesday, 21 October, the City Council has a regular session with more than 50 draft resolutions.
What it means
For the residents of a city of nearly 720,000 people, a period of several months ends, during which the office was run by acting mayor Stanisław Kracik. Gibała now holds the full powers of the mayor, and can appoint deputy mayors and submit draft resolutions to the council. The question is whether he can build a majority in the council; without it, it may be hard to push through his campaign proposals.
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