Latest news with #AnnaWlodarczak-Semczuk
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Who is Poland's next president Karol Nawrocki?
By Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW (Reuters) -Karol Nawrocki, the conservative historian who won Poland's presidential election, cultivated a tough-guy image during his campaign, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and boxing rings. While his liberal opponent Rafal Trzaskowski played up his European credentials, Nawrocki met Donald Trump at the White House and received the U.S. president's backing for his bid for Poland's top job. According to the final result from the electoral commission, Nawrocki won the election with 50.89% of the votes. Unlike other eurosceptics in central Europe, such as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico or Hungary's Viktor Orban, Nawrocki supports giving military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia's three-year-old invasion. But he has said that, if elected, he will oppose membership in Western alliances for Ukraine, a position that seeks to chime with falling support for Ukrainians among Poles, who have 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. 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. He is likely to follow a similar path to outgoing President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally who has used his veto power to block the pro-EU government's efforts to undo the previous PiS administration's judicial reforms. The EU says the PiS reforms undermined the independence of the courts. THE FIGHT IN THE RIGHT In the last two weeks, the candidates mostly fought for the support of people who voted for other candidates in the first round, in particular far-right's Slawomir Mentzen who came third with 15% support. Trzaskowski tried to attract them with promises of deregulation. Nawrocki touted his credentials as head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), support for gun ownership, traditional families and Christian values, but also a critical tone on Ukraine, in sync with Mentzen's. His wife Marta, a civil servant, and three children featured strongly in his campaign. Nawrocki's past has been a topic of intense public debate following a series of negative media reports. There were questions over his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner and an admission that he took part in orchestrated brawls. "All my sports activities were based on the strength of my heart, the strength of my muscles, my fists," Nawrocki, an amateur boxer, told a debate when confronted over reports he had been involved in mass organised fights between football hooligans. "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. The government rejects these accusations. 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.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nationalist Polish presidential contender talks tough on Ukraine
By Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW (Reuters) - While his main rival plays up his European credentials, nationalist Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki posts videos of himself at shooting ranges and boxing rings or meeting U.S. president Donald Trump at the White House. Unlike other eurosceptics in central Europe, such as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Hungary's Viktor Orban, or George Simion who is running for Romanian president on Sunday when Poland will vote, Nawrocki supports giving military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia's three-year-old invasion. But he says that, if elected, he will oppose membership in Western alliances for Ukraine until it clears exhumations of the remains of Polish victims killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War Two - a divisive issue between the allies for decades. Ukraine, which began allowing exhumations in April, says the killings - Poland counts over 100,000 victims - were part of a wider conflict between the two nations and that thousands of its own citizens were also killed. Nawrocki's critics say he is fuelling unease over Ukrainian refugees at a time when the far-right is highlighting migration, the cost of living and security. He cites his campaign slogan, Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media last month. Opinion polls show Nawrocki, 42, a conservative historian and amateur boxer, in second place ahead of the ballot, following liberal Warsaw city mayor Rafal Trzaskowski. The two will likely compete in a runoff on June 1. Three years into Ukraine's war with Russia, some Poles blame the roughly one million refugees in the country for lengthy healthcare queues, low pay and packed kindergartens, in an echo of pre-Brexit Britain. THE FIGHT ON THE RIGHT Opinion polls show far-right Slawomir Mentzen third in the running and his votes may be crucial for Nawrocki to win in the second round. "It's a policy built on fear towards Ukrainians," said Anna Materska-Sosnowska from Warsaw University. "It's meant to attract (far-right) voters." Historical grievances have long been championed by politicians on the right in Poland, in particular by the arch-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) opposition. PiS attracted wide criticism in the West that it was subverting democratic norms when it governed for eight years until 2023. Although Nawrocki is technically an independent, PiS has fielded him in the presidential vote. As head of the Institute of National Remembrance, which researches crimes against Poland, Nawrocki is also subject to a Russian arrest warrant over its policy of removing monuments commemorating the Red Army's advance at the end of WW2. For Ryszard Przyborowski, a pensioner from western Poland who plans to vote for Trzaskowski, Nawrocki cannot be trusted and his Ukraine policy is unconvincing: "We should focus above all on building good neighbourly relations," he said. Nawrocki's support has edged down in recent weeks amid allegations that he had not declared ownership of an apartment acquired from a vulnerable pensioner. Many people are standing by him, however, saying he understands their struggles with the cost of living and migration. Critics have also raised doubts about acquaintances from his youth, including football hooligans and convicted criminals, some of whom were reported to have taken part in events organised by the WW2 museum in Gdansk when he managed it. Nawrocki dismisses the criticism, distancing himself from the convicts and saying his football fans are Polish citizens like any other.
