Latest news with #AndrzejDuda
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rafał Trzaskowski: Warsaw mayor with foreign policy experience
Pro-EU presidential candidate Rafał Trzaskowski, a close ally of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is a political scientist and one of the most prominent intellectuals in Poland's liberal-conservative camp. The 53-year-old with the fashionable three-day stubble only just missed election in 2020, when he came in behind outgoing right-wing President Andrzej Duda. Warsaw Mayor Trzaskowski studied in Paris and Oxford and speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian in addition to his native Polish. During Tusk's first term in office, he was appointed minister for administration and digitalization in 2013, going on to become deputy foreign minister. Trzaskowski has been mayor of the capital since 2018, sweeping to victory in the first round on re-election last year. While he has modernized Warsaw by extending public transport and investing in culture, he has also drawn criticism for wasting public funds. Construction of a lavatory in a park cost €150,000 ($170,000) – an amount that would buy a home in rural Poland. Trzaskowski is internationally experienced, intelligent, handsome and mediagenic, but evident membership of the cosmopolitan elite makes few friends among the country's small farmers. In Tusk's ruling liberal-conservative coalition, the father of two is seen as on the left due to support of LGBT rights, his regular appearance at Pride Parades and his removal of crucifixes from Warsaw administrative offices. In strongly Catholic rural Poland, he is seen as abandoning traditional values.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A Tense Poland Votes as the World Watches
Poland will hold a presidential runoff election on Sunday, with polls indicating a neck-and-neck race between a liberal pro-European Union mayor and a Trump-backed conservative from the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Leaders throughout Europe will be watching closely because of the elections implications for the future of NATO, Ukraine, and the European Union. Most political power in Poland lies in parliament, where Prime Minister Donald Tusks centrist coalition holds a slim governing majority with waning popularity. But the president has the power to veto, and outgoing conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda, whose second term expires this summer, has used that power often. Tired of seeing his reforms stall at the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister Tusk has endorsed Warsaws progressive mayor, Rafa''.ord('').';'''.ord('').';' Trzaskowski, citing the need to restore the rule of law and weed out corruption in the justice system. But Donald Trump favors Karol Nawrocki of the Law and Justice party. Trump and Nawrocki met in the Oval Office last month as a sign of mutual support, and last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (held strategically in Poland), Trumps Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, said Nawrocki "needs to be the next president of Poland." Nawrocki, who likes to compare himself to Trump, was underestimated in initial polls, which had him trailing Trzaskowski by 4-6 points before the first round of voting. Trzaskowski led the pool of 13 first-round candidates with 31.3% of the vote, but Nawrocki trailed closely with 29.5% of the vote, a margin slim enough to rattle Trzaskowskis campaign. Set to face off in Sundays two-man runoff, both candidates are scrambling to attract voters who supported other candidates in round one. The third-place finisher, Slawomir Mentzen, earned 14.8% of the vote. Branding himself the "common sense" candidate, Mentzen once said, "We dont want Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes and the EU." He has amassed a large TikTok following, appealing mostly to discontented young male voters. Dangling his endorsement, Mentzen asked both candidates to sign a declaration that includes a pledge to resist the EU and oppose Ukraines accession to NATO. Breaking from his own partys stance on Ukraine, Nawrocki signed the declaration. Trzaskowski has not. Nawrockis campaign has recently been mired by reports that he secured prostitutes at a luxury hotel on the Baltic Sea. In response, Nawrocki said on his campaigns X account Wednesday, "Media slander did not destroy President Trump. It will not destroy Karol Nawrocki, either." Nawrocki clearly has the edge in securing Mentzens voters. But Trzaskowski could receive a boost from Polands more casual voters who failed to cast a ballot in round one but may be inclined to vote in the higher-stakes round two. Opinion polls have Trzaskowski winning by less than a percentage point - hardly a lead at all. Nawrocki, like his ally in the White House, has proven to overperform in the past. But with the race this tight, neither candidate has looked particularly confident in the week leading up to the election. Tensions are rising across the country. Polands crossroads is a microcosm of the continents broader crossroads as Europeans decide whether to support continued unification (with all its benefits and costs) or a retreat toward nationalism. Though domestic policies like abortion, gay rights, and energy policy swirl in the background, the question at the heart of this election is whether Poland will choose to buy in or opt out of Europes unifying institutions. With Ukraine, officials at the EU, and the rest of the world watching, we wont know the answer until Sunday when Poles go to the polls. Addison Graham is global affairs correspondent for RealClearPolitics.
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Poland holds pivotal presidential runoff influenced by Trump, far right and Ukraine war
WARSAW: Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election on Sunday between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country's future. The winner will succeed President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome will determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos will be released when polls close on Sunday at 9 p.m. local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected Monday. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the agenda of the centrist government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanks to the presidential power to veto laws. An unpredictable vote at a time of tensions The vote comes amid heightened regional tensions driven by Russia's war in neighboring Ukraine, security concerns across Europe and internal debates about the rule of law. It follows a first round on May 18, in which Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski won more than 31% of the vote and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian, earned nearly 30%. Eleven other candidates were eliminated. Opinion polls show the two men running neck and neck. Other factors add to the unpredictability. Nawrocki did much better in the first round than surveys had predicted, indicating that his strength was underestimated. On the other hand, large numbers of Poles abroad have registered to vote in the second round, which could help Trzaskowski. The candidates Nawrocki is a 42-year-old historian who was tapped as by the national conservative Law and Justice party despite a lack of political experience or party membership. But this is seen as acting in his favor, as the party, which governed for 2015-2023, seeks to refresh its image before a parliamentary election in 2027. Nawrocki's supporters describe him as the embodiment of traditional, patriotic Polish values. They believe U.S. President Donald Trump's support for him will strengthen Poland's ties with the United States and make the country safer.
Washington Post
a day ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Poland holds a pivotal presidential runoff influenced by Trump, the far right and the war in Ukraine
WARSAW, Poland — Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election on Sunday between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country's future. The winner will succeed President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome will determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos will be released when polls close on Sunday at 9 p.m. local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected Monday.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Polish presidential candidates neck and neck on eve of runoff vote
Poles will cast their votes on Sunday in the closest presidential runoff since the fall of communism, in an election that pits two different visions of the nation against each other. In Poland's previous election in 2020, the conservative populist incumbent Andrzej Duda narrowly won the second-round vote against the pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, by 51% to 49%. This time it could be even closer. Polls show the difference between Trzaskowski and the nationalist rightwing historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, to be within the margin of error. At stake is whether the coalition government led by Donald Tusk, Trzaskowski's political patron, will be able to pursue its progressive agenda or see it further blocked by a critical opposition president armed with the power to veto laws. In Siekierczyn, a rural municipality with 4,265 residents across eight villages in the south-west of Poland, the first round was decided by a single vote, catapulting the hitherto unknown area into the spotlight. 'You probably often heard 'my vote won't change anything'. But look at Siekierczyn,' the winner, Trzaskowski, said in a social media video, rallying voters before the runoff. Noticeboards in the village are plastered with posters of candidates, and the mayor, Dariusz Furdykoń, 48, cherishes the attention that comes with the close result. The area faces challenges with rural revitalisation and energy transition, he says. In 2023, he turned a neglected bathing pond into a colourful outdoor playground; a new sports hall is to open this year. But he worries about depopulation as more people died (46) than were born (26) last year, and younger people leave for cities or seek work in Germany or the Czech Republic. Emotions are running high, he admits. 'These differences come out at the dining table, during first communion, Christmas or Easter. The rift is between older, often less-educated people, and younger ones, who have been out and about,' he says. 'Some are voters, others are believers. But what can you do? You need to talk with them, try to find a way forward.' In the first round, about 60% of residents cast votes. 'But the weather was awful,' Furdykoń says. On Sunday, he hopes to see more come out; the municipality will even run a special bus service to polling stations. In the early afternoon, the sleepy village turns into a hive of political campaigning as a group of Nawrocki voters meet to chat to the conservative TV channel Republika. Standing by their pickup emblazoned with Nawrocki's poster, Henryk, a former councillor, and Janina Wójcik say they want 'a candidate who, however lofty it sounds, serves Poland's interests best'. They feel that 'someone wants to take our freedom, our statehood,' as they worry about plans to create 'a European army' and EU green policies. In contrast, the Donald Trump-backed Nawrocki is a Catholic and will guarantee their state pension payments and free prescriptions, they say. Others rush to point out that Trzaskowski only came first because of a polling station inside a prison, where he won by 77 votes. 'People in the village didn't vote for him; prisoners did. Not something to brag about, is it?' says Teresa Zembik, 62. Her husband, Wojciech, 63, is head of the local PiS branch and he doesn't mince words. Political conflict 'runs through families here', he says. 'These are not just political views, it's a continuation of the war, and Poland is at stake. One group wants to fight for Poland, the other to destroy it in the interests of Russia and Germany.' Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion As the group crosses the road from the parish church, another man splits from it and tears down a Trzaskowski banner on a nearby house. Its resident Monika misses the drama. When told about the incident by children, she pulls her phone out. 'I will get another one up,' she laughs. She wants a 'tolerant, clean and peaceful Poland' and rejects the dismissive tone about prison voters. 'Folks make mistakes but then make amends. People are people.' Her daughter got her dad to vote for the first time this year. Maybe that won the first round, she wonders. She is not the only one to stake that claim. Picking up children from school, Mariola says her son turned 18 recently and voted for the first time, so it's his vote that swung it for Trzaskowski. 'I want to get reforms going,' she says, pointing to women's rights – 'the right to choose' – in particular. At a local supermarket, two Nawrocki voters, Dominik and Janusz, joke about another neighbour who also says he decided the vote. But they are tired of 'dirty campaign tricks' against their candidate. They shrug off that Nawrocki took part in an organised fight between 140 football hooligans20 years ago (he called it an act of 'noble combat'), and distrust reports he was allegedly involved in procuring sex workers while working as a student security guard at a hotel (a claim he strongly denies). Instead, they focus on the here and now, and want Nawrocki to lower national insurance payments for entrepreneurs. As president he could propose legislation, but he wouldn't have a majority in parliament – at least for now. Despite the fevered atmosphere, there are still some voters who are yet to make up their minds. Wioletta, 44, voted in the first round for the libertarian far-right candidate Sławomir Mentzen, who came third, and she doesn't like the remaining candidates. 'But I have to go. I'll decide at the polling station,' she says. Adam, 40, says: 'None of them convinced me yet.' He plans to watch YouTube and read up over the weekend. Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor of politics at the University of Sussex, said it was 'very, very close,' with 5% yet to pick a side. It 'might mean you get … disillusioned government supporters coming out in spite of everything' for Trzaskowski, or older voters who skipped the first round mobilise to back Nawrocki, or see another minor movement that could ultimately decide the result, he said. The diaspora vote could play a role, too, with about 700,000 registered voters abroad, including 185,000 in the UK. Ben Stanley, an associate professor at SWPS University in Warsaw, said: 'The outcome is impossible to predict. There are too many moving parts, and even the slightest change on the day could tip the balance.' For what it's worth, it is expected to rain again in Siekierczyn on Sunday.
