Polish eurosceptic Nawrocki wins presidential vote, electoral commission says
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Mr Karol Nawrocki flashing the victory sign in front of supporters as exit polls are announced at the Mala Warszawa Theatre in Warsaw, Poland.
PHOTO: AFP
WARSAW – Polish nationalist opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki won the second round of the country’s presidential election with 50.89 per cent of the votes, the electoral commission said early on June 2 on its website.
His rival Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal Warsaw mayor and an ally of the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, got 49.11 per cent.
Mr Nawrocki, 42, an amateur boxer who ran a national remembrance institute, campaigned on a promise to ensure government economic and social policies favour Poles over other nations, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine.
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski (left) at election headquarters on June 1 in Warsaw, Poland.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
While Poland’s Parliament holds most power, the president can veto legislation, and the vote is being watched closely in Ukraine as well as Russia, the US and across the European Union.
On social media platform X, current President Andrzej Duda, also a conservative, thanked Poles for going to vote in large numbers. Turnout was 71.31 per cent, the electoral commission said, a record for the second round of a presidential election.
“Thank you! For participating in the presidential elections. For the turnout. For fulfilling your civic duty. For taking responsibility for Poland. Congratulations to the winner! Stay strong Poland!” Mr Duda wrote.
Both candidates agreed on the need to spend heavily on defence as US President Donald Trump is demanding from Europe, and to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
Poland is a member of the 32-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organisation security alliance.
While Mr Trzaskowski sees Ukraine’s future membership of Nato as essential for Poland’s security, Mr Nawrocki said recently that if he were president he would not ratify it because of the danger of the alliance being drawn into war with Russia.
Russia has demanded that Nato not enlarge eastward to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics as a condition of a peace deal with Kyiv, sources have said.
Mr Nawrocki has presented the ballot as a referendum on the broad coalition government of pro-Europe Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the leader of the Civic Coalition (KO) party who took office about 18 months ago.
“This will be a good counterweight to the government,” said Mr Mateusz Morawiecki, who served as prime minister of a nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government that lost power in 2023.
Although technically an independent, Mr Nawrocki was backed by PiS in the election.
Mr Trzaskowski, 53, had promised to help Mr Tusk complete his government’s democratic reforms, which they both say aim to repair an erosion of checks and balances under the former PiS government.
Mr Trzaskowski’s campaign initially proclaimed victory on June 1 and did not immediately comment after poll readings showed a move in Mr Nawrocki’s favour.
Tumultuous campaign
The first round of the election on May 18 saw a surge in support for the anti-establishment far-right, suggesting that the KO-PiS duopoly that has dominated Polish politics for a generation may be starting to fracture.
Nevertheless, after a tumultuous campaign in which Mr Nawrocki in particular faced a slew of negative media reports about his alleged past conduct, once again candidates representing the two main parties faced off in the second round.
Mr Nawrocki dismissed accusations of wrongdoing in his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner and participation in mass organised fights among football hooligans.
Social issues were also at stake in the election.
Mr Trzaskowski has said he wanted to see Poland’s near total ban on abortion eased, something that outgoing nationalist President Andrzej Duda strongly opposed.
A win by Mr Nawrocki will likely mean that Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and Slovakia’s Robert Fico would get an ally in Central Europe, and could galvanise voters in the Czech Republic, where opinion polls show eurosceptic Andrej Babis might come back to power in October.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke in Mr Nawrocki’s favour in May, telling a conservative gathering in Poland that he “needs to be the next president”. REUTERS
