02-06-2025
Poland elects nationalist Karol Nawrocki as next president
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Poland's Electoral Commission has named nationalist historian, Karol Nawrocki the country's new President.
A second round of voting yesterday saw a massive voter turnout, the count coming down to the wire.
Earlier Pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski claimed victory after an early exit poll had him in a slim-majority position.
"My dears! We won! I will unite. I will build. I will truly be the president of all Polish women and men. I will be your president."
The 53-year-old pro-European mayor of Warsaw promised to deliver an inclusive Poland for all citizens.
"We will make Poland great, prosperous, for everyone, for everyone to embark on this journey to the future. I promise you that. And this slogan really had a deep, deep meaning — all of Poland will win and has won."
However, just hours later, exit polls had swung away from him, in favour of his political rival Karol Nawrocki.
While Poland's parliament - led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk from Rafał Trzaskowski's Civic Platform party - holds most power in the country, the president can veto legislation.
Mr Nawrocki, a 42-year-old historian and former amateur boxer, took the second exit poll as a sure sign of victory.
"We will win and we will save Poland. We won't allow Donald Tusk's power to be all-encompassing, so that the monopoly of power, the evil power, that does not care about public money, a government that takes away our great dreams and robs us of our aspirations - for this monopoly not to happen, we need to win tonight. And we all know that will happen. These are unique elections, the only ones like this after 1989 and that's why I want to thank you all. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank the citizens of Poland."
Mr Nawrocki's supporters were also confident he would take the presidency.
SUPPORTER 1: "Our predictions are too close to call, but I feel that we will win. I'm perfectly sure that we will win."
SUPPORTER 2: "It will be a huge victory for Europe and a huge victory for Christianity. The Polish people didn't believe in the biggest campaign I ever saw of fake news. Karol Nawrocki is a fighter and he will fight for the Polish people and we are very proud to stand alongside him.."
Meanwhile, Rafał Trzaskowski's supporters were shattered by the plot-twist after they had begun to celebrate an election win.
SUPPORTER 1: "We're shocked."
SUPPORTER 2: "Yes, we are. We are both supporting Rafal Trzaskowski. And yeah, the first exit polls looked very favorable. Now it's a major change, and we are worried, honestly."
SUPPORTER 3: "So yeah, it's surprising. However, I hope that perhaps it will change through the night and on Monday morning we will learn who will officially become the president."
The election campaign was rocky with Mr Nawrocki facing a slew of negative media reports about his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner and participation in mass organised fights among football hooligans.
But Mr Nawrocki's lead in the polls was confirmed by the Electoral Commission, winning the presidency with 50.89 per cent of the vote.
32-year-old I-T Specialist Patryk Marek says the close race shows how much division there is in Poland.
"Everything was on the knife-edge. We will see what this time brings us. Feelings are for sure mixed at the moment. But how small this margin was, it tells us how divided we are, almost in half as voters. This is very interesting and also gives food for thought."
The election was seen as a test of the nation's support for a pro-European course versus Karol Nawrocki's Donald Trump-style nationalism.
The former boxer campaigned on a promise to ensure government economic and social policies favour Poles over other nations, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine.
