Karol Nawrocki, backed by right-wing party PiS has won his bid to be the next Polish president after winning 51 per cent of the vote.
The 42-year-old the Polish election after defeating centre-left candidate and Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski representing the Civic Coalition (KO), who registered 49 per cent of the votes.
This marks Trzaskowski’s second defeat at the Presidential elections, having lost to Andzrej Duda five years ago.
The Polish election was marked by a record-high turnout, the highest of any presidential elections: 72 per cent, according to exit polls.
Trzaskowski was initially polled as the favourite, but as new exit polls came in from rural areas the right-wing candidate began to move the needle. Trzaskowski claimed a 57 per cent lead in the cities, but Nawrocki dominated in the countryside, recording 64 per cent of the votes in rural areas.
Nawrocki ran his campaign on the premise of prioritising “national sovereignty” over “European bureaucrats”, and is likely to attempt to veto any law proposed by Donald Tusk, who has served as the PM since the parliamentary elections in 2023.
The presidential role allows Nawrocki to veto his government, or at least to slow down their decision-making. This has been the case for many years under Andrzej Duda, who has often requested proposed laws are reviewed independently by courts as a stalling tactic.
The PiS candidate also promised to “never” let Ukraine enter the European Union or NATO, if historical disputes over the massacre of Poles in Volhynia during WWII were not be resolved by Ukraine. His Euroscepticism has invited praise by Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.
Nawrocki previously labelled the presidential elections as “the referendum on the disapproval of Donald Tusk”, a term which has regularly been used by PiS members. Political analysts expect Nawrocki to push for a collapse of Tusk’s fragile coalition, in order to allow PiS to reclaim control of the government through snap elections.
Trzaskowski on the other hand ran on a liberal agenda, promoting LGBTQ+ rights as well as pushing for further protections for women and abortion rights. He is also pro-immigration, with opposition parties frequently accusing him of sacrificing Poland’s sovereign borders for greater relations with the EU, particularly after Trzaskowski voiced support for the union’s Migrant Pact which places the burden of responsibility for asylum seekers on the host nation.
Nawrocki’s presidency marks the continuation of a KO-PiS parliamentary-legislative deadlock, in which neither party will be able to make an advance.
KO will continue to try passing laws with their thin majority, Nawrocki will continue to oppose using his veto powers, potentially even more than his predecessor Andrzej Duda.
Despite claiming a narrow victory, PiS have a long way until they can claim dominance of Poland’s political landscape.
In the middle of the PiS and KO struggles lie millions of disillusioned voters, frustrated with the lack of efficiency caused by the deadlock of the two parties.
Author: Kai E. Iliev
Featured image via KSikorski / Shutterstock.
