Rival marches draw thousands in Warsaw ahead of presidential vote
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is shown on screen as he speaks on the day of the \"Patriotic March\" organised by the ruling party, ahead of the second round of presidential elections, in Warsaw, Poland, May 25, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Karol Nawrocki, presidential candidate supported by the main opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), attends a march with his supporters ahead of the second round of presidential elections, in Warsaw, Poland May 25, 2025. Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Robert Kowalewski via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Supporters attend a march organised by Karol Nawrocki, presidential candidate supported by the main opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), ahead of the second round of presidential elections, in Warsaw, Poland May 25, 2025. REUTERS/Lukasz Glowala
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of the Civic Coalition, speaks during rally after a final debate, in front of the Polish Television building in Warsaw, Poland, May 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of the Civic Coalition, attends \"Patriotic March\" organised by the ruling party, together with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, ahead of the second round of presidential elections, in Warsaw, Poland, May 25, 2025. Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Dawid Zuchowicz via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND.
WARSAW - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Warsaw on Sunday to show support for candidates vying to win next week's tightly-contested presidential election in Poland that the government views as crucial to is efforts for democratic reform.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk hopes to galvanise support for his candidate, the liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, to replace the outgoing Andrzej Duda, a nationalist who has vetoed many of his efforts to reform the judiciary.
"All of Poland is looking at us. All of Europe is looking at us. The whole world is looking at us," Trzaskowski told supporters who waved red and white Polish flag and European Union flags.
Tusk swept into power in 2023 with a broad alliance of leftist and centrist parties, on a promise to undo changes made by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government that the European Union said had undermined democracy and women's and minority rights.
But Trzaskowski is struggling to secure a lead in opinion polls, after beating nationalist Karol Nawrocki by two percentage points in the first round of the election on May 18.
Nawrocki's voters, some wearing hats saying "Poland is the most important", gathered in a different part of the capital on Sunday to show support for his drive to align Poland more closely with U.S. President Donald Trump's policies.
"He is the best candidate, the most patriotic, one who can guarantee that Poland is independent and sovereign," said Jan Sulanowski, 42.
At Trzaskowski's march, the newly-elected president of Romania Nicusor Dan pledged to work closely with Tusk and Trzaskowski "to ensure Poland and the European Union remain strong".
Dan's unexpected victory in a vote on May 18 over a hard-right Trump supporter was greeted with relief in Brussels and other parts of Europe, as many were concerned that his rival George Simion would have complicated EU's efforts to tackle Russia's war in Ukraine. REUTERS
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