Anti-EU football hooligan ‘pimp' Karol Nawrocki wins Poland's presidential election after knife-edge vote
ANTI-EU football hooligan "pimp" Karol Nawrocki has won Poland's presidential election.
According to the final result from the electoral commission, right-wing historian with a past of football hooliganism Nawrocki, 42, won the election with a slim 50.89% of the votes.
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Karol Nawrocki during the election evening of the second round of the Presidential election in Warsaw
Credit: Getty
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Marta Nawrocka and supported by Law and Justice party candidate for the President of Poland Karol Nawrocki during the election
Credit: Getty
Just six months ago, Nawrocki was a fairly unknown name - but in the run up to the election, the historian posted videos of himself at shooting ranges and boxing rings - cultivating a tough-guy image for voters.
And the past two weeks have seen Nawrocki have to vehemently deny claims he had contacts in the criminal underworld and that he got prostitutes to pretend to be guests at a luxury hotel.
But his campaign team were forced to admit that the new Polish leader did in fact engage in a bare-knuckle mass brawl between rival football hooligans.
While his liberal opponent Rafal Trzaskowski played up his European credentials, Nawrocki met Donald Trump at the White House and received the US President's backing.
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Unlike other eurosceptics in central Europe like Hungary's Viktor Orban, Nawrocki supports giving military aid to help Ukraine in the bloody war with Russia.
But he also revealed prior to his win that he will oppose membership in Western alliances for Ukraine.
This view aligns with the falling support among Poles for Ukrainians, with the country having hosted more than a million refugees from across the border.
His backers in the Law and Justice (PiS) party had supported fast-tracking membership in the EU and NATO for Kyiv while in power until late 2023.
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Nawrocki's critics said he was fuelling unease over Ukrainian refugees at a time when the far-right is highlighting migration, the cost of living and security.
He cited his campaign slogan, Poland First.
"Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
Nawrocki's past has been a topic of intense public debate following a series of negative media coverage.
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Robert Prevost elected as Pope Leo XIV - the first from North American
There were questions over his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner -and even an admission that he took part in orchestrated brawls.
Nawrocki, an amateur boxer, told a debate when confronted over reports he had been involved in mass organised fights between football hooligans: "All my sports activities were based on the strength of my heart, the strength of my muscles, my fists.
"It was a fair competition, regardless of the form."
His Law and Justice party backers have accused the government of orchestrating the controversies with the help of Poland's special services and liberal media.
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Nawrocki portrayed the election as a referendum on the government, which he described as a metropolitan elite out of touch with their concerns.
"I am simply one of you," he told voters in the eastern town of Biala Podlaska while on the campaign trail.
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