Right-wing candidate Karol Nawrocki wins Poland's presidential election

Australia Broadcast Center

02-06-2025

Conservative Karol Nawrocki has won Poland's presidential runoff election over the weekend, according to the final vote count released on Monday, local time.
Mr Nawrocki won 50.89 per cent of votes in a nail-bitingly close race against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who received 49.11 per cent.
The race had Poland on edge since a first round of voting two weeks earlier, revealing deep divisions in the country along the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union.
An early exit poll released on Sunday evening suggested Mr Trzaskowski was headed to victory before updated polling began to reverse the picture a couple hours later.
The outcome suggested Poland can be expected to take a more populist and nationalist path under its new leader, who was backed by US President Donald Trump.
Most day-to-day power in the Polish political system rests with a prime minister chosen by the parliament.
However, the president's role is not merely ceremonial.
The office holds the power to influence foreign policy and veto legislation.
Mr Nawrocki will succeed Andrzej Duda, a conservative whose second and final term ends on August 6.
Under the Polish constitution, the president serves a five-year term and may be re-elected once.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power in late 2023 with a coalition government that spans a broad ideological divide.
It is so broad, it has been unable to fulfil some of Mr Tusk's electoral promises, including loosening restrictive abortion laws or passing a civil partnership law for same-sex couples.
But Mr Duda's veto power has been another obstacle.
It has prevented Mr Tusk from fulfilling his pledge to reverse laws that politicise the court system in a way that the European Union declared to be undemocratic.
Now it appears the prime minister will have no way to fulfil those promises, which he made both to voters and the EU.
Some observers in Poland say this could make it more difficult for Mr Tusk to continue his term until the next parliamentary election scheduled for late 2027.
Mr Nawrocki is a 42-year-old amateur boxer and historian, tapped by the Law and Justice party as part of its push for a fresh start.
The party governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, when it lost power to a centrist coalition led by Mr Tusk.
Mr Nawrocki was chosen as a new face who would not be burned by the scandals of the party's eight years of rule.
Mr Nawrocki's supporters describe him as the embodiment of traditional, patriotic values.
He denies allegations of past connections to criminal figures but has been unapologetic about claims he participated in a violent street brawl, saying he had taken part in "noble" fights in his life.
The revelations did not seem to hurt his support among right-wing voters, many of whom see the allegations as politically motivated.
Mr Trump has made it clear he wanted Mr Nawrocki as Poland's president.
He welcomed Mr Nawrocki to the White House a month ago.
Mr Nawrocki's supporters have often said he will restore "normality", as they believe Trump has done.
US flags often appeared at Mr Nawrocki's rallies, and his supporters believed that he offered a better chance for good ties with the Trump administration.
AP