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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Eurosceptic nationalist Karol Nawrocki elected Poland president in tight election
Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by Donald Trump, has won Poland's tightly fought presidential election against centrist candidate Rafal Trzaskowski. Polish voters cast their ballots on Sunday in a tightly fought race, the result of which was expected to shape the country's political future and its relations with the EU. Mr Nawrocki, 42, a Eurosceptic nationalist, won 50.89 per cent of the votes cast while Mr Trzaskowski, a liberal Warsaw mayor, won 49.11 per cent after the final count, according to Onet. Mr Nawrocki, a historian and amateur boxer who ran a national remembrance institute, campaigned on a promise to ensure economic and social policies favouring Poles over other nationalities, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine. Overnight projections after the polling showed Mr Nawrocki leading Mr Trzaskowski by a fraction of a percentage point. However, the race was too close to call as two of the three exit polls showed Mr Trzaskowski leading ahead of Mr Nawrocki. As votes were still being counted, a set of preliminary results combining exit polls and counted ballots at 1am local time on Monday showed Mr Nawrocki ahead with 50.7 per cent of the vote over Trzaskowski with 49.3 per cent. Locked in a near-dead heat, both candidates claimed victory in meetings with their supporters in Warsaw before the result was out. 'We won,' Mr Trzaskowski told his supporters. 'This is truly a special moment in Poland's history. I am convinced that it will allow us to move forward and focus on the future. I will be your president." Mr Nawrocki, speaking to his supporters at a separate event in Warsaw, said he believed he was on track for victory. "We'll win and save Poland," he said. "We must win tonight." A victory for Mr Trzaskowski, a liberal pro-EU politician, was set to strengthen prime minister Donald Tusk's pro-European agenda and help curb the rise of the far-right across Europe. In contrast, Mr Nawrocki's win was expected to threaten the stability of Mr Tusk's coalition and deepen rifts between Poland and its EU neighbours. Mr Nawrocki, 42, aligned with US conservatives, including US president Trump, was backed by the right-wing Law and Justice party. Last month, Mr Trump invited Mr Nawrocki to the Oval office and US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem had urged Poles to elect him, saying he had the capability of working together with Mr Trump. 'He needs to be the next president of Poland,' Ms Noem said. While the Polish presidency is largely ceremonial with limited sway over foreign policy and defence, the president enjoys veto power over legislation – a significant check on prime minister Tusk's pro-EU coalition which lacks the parliamentary majority needed to override it. The vote on Sunday was a runoff between the two highest vote winners in the first round of the election on 18 May when Mr Trzaskowski held a lead, but marginally. Mr Trzaskowski had won just over 31 per cent and Mr Nawrocki nearly 30 per cent, eliminating 11 other candidates. From 2015 to 2023, Poland was ruled by the nationalist Law and Justice party, which curbed abortion rights and expanded state control over the media. Though a centrist coalition led by Mr Tusk came to power in 2023, president Andrzej Duda – a conservative ally of Law and Justice – remained in office, enabling him to block much of Tusk's agenda. Mr Duda's term ends this summer and the race to succeed him is widely seen as a referendum on Mr Tusk, whose popularity is waning amid challenges in pushing through key reforms. The election attracted widespread international attention as it was being held in Ukraine's neighbourhood where Russia's war raised security fears. While candidates support aid to Kyiv, Mr Nawrocki opposes Nato membership for Ukraine while Mr Trzaskowski supports it in the future. Mr Nawrocki's campaign drew on themes popular among the American right, particularly a focus on traditional values. His supporters fear Mr Trzaskowski's pro-EU position could cede too much control over Polish affairs to European powers like France and Germany. Many European centrists had rallied behind Mr Trzaskowski, viewing him as a defender of democratic values at a time when they were under threat from rising authoritarianism worldwide.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Polish eurosceptic Nawrocki expected to win presidential vote, news website Onet says
Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, reacts to the exit polls of the second round of presidential election, in Warsaw, Poland, June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel Nationalist and eurosceptic Karol Nawrocki was expected to win Poland's presidential election based on all votes counted, the news website Onet reported on Monday, in results that would deal a blow to the reform agenda of the pro-European government. The Polish Electoral Commission said on its website that it had counted all of the votes. Official results are expected some time on Monday morning, the Commission had said earlier. Based on the final count, Nawrocki had 50.9% of the vote, while his rival, Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal Warsaw mayor and an ally of the government led by Donald Tusk, had 49.1%, Onet reported on its website. Nawrocki, 42, an historian and amateur boxer who ran a national remembrance institute, campaigned on a promise to ensure economic and social policies favour Poles over other nationalities, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine. While Poland's parliament holds most power, the president can veto legislation, and the vote was being watched closely in Ukraine as well as Russia, the United States and across the European Union. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Polish nationalist Nawrocki expected to win presidential vote, news website Onet says
(Reuters) -The candidate supported by Poland's largest nationalist opposition party, Karol Nawrocki, was expected to win the presidential election second round with 50.9% of votes, the news website Onet said early on Monday. Poland's Electoral Commission said on its website it has finished counting all of the votes. Official results are expected sometime Monday morning the Commission had said earlier.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Polish nationalist Nawrocki expected to win presidential vote, news website Onet says
June 2 (Reuters) - The candidate supported by Poland's largest nationalist opposition party, Karol Nawrocki, was expected to win the presidential election second round with 50.9% of votes, the news website Onet said early on Monday. Poland's Electoral Commission said on its website it has finished counting all of the votes. Official results are expected sometime Monday morning the Commission had said earlier.
France 24
27-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Poland to vote in razor-tight presidential election
The two candidates -- Rafal Trzaskowski, backed by the ruling centrists, and Karol Nawrocki, a political novice supported by the opposition Law and Justice party -- are running neck-and-neck in opinion polls. The latest estimates have them tied at 46.3 percent of voting intentions, spelling a nail-biting final stretch of the campaign. The rivals have been scrambling for the past week to woo voters from across the political spectrum. "I promise you that I will be a president who unites, who is ready to talk to everyone," Trzaskowski told a crowd of supporters rallying in Warsaw on Sunday. Nawrocki held a rival demonstration at the same time -- with tens of thousands of people gathered for both events. Victory for Trzaskowski, 53, would be a major boost for Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Council chief who returned to power in the 2023 parliamentary elections. The result will be closely watched across Europe and beyond as a win for Nawrocki could cast doubt on Poland's staunch support for neighbouring Ukraine. Nawrocki, 42, opposes NATO membership for Kyiv and has spoken against the benefits given to the one million Ukrainian refugees living in Poland. Chatting over pints Trzaskowski won the first round of the election on May 18 by a razor-thin margin, polling 31 percent against 30 percent for Nawrocki. Far-right candidates received a combined 21.15 percent -- leaving Nawrocki buoyed and with a larger potential pool of votes to draw upon, analysts say. Nawrocki was quick to agree to terms set by far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen, who, shortly after coming third in round one of the election, laid out conditions for a potential endorsement. The eight-point statement signed by Nawrocki live on Mentzen's YouTube channel includes a promise to veto any legislation that would raise taxes, limit free speech or ratify Ukraine's potential NATO membership. His campaign was rocked on Monday by the Onet media outlet's report that Nawrocki was involved in connecting hotel guests with sex workers and escorting them into a Sopot establishment where he was a security guard around 20 years ago. Nawrocki denied the allegations and said he would sue Onet -- one of Poland's main news websites -- calling the report a "bunch of lies". Prostitution is not illegal in Poland, but facilitating it is punishable by up to five years in jail. For Trzaskowski, an avowed Europhile, campaigning has become a delicate balancing act to charm some of the right-leaning voters while not disenchanting the left. Like Nawrocki, the Warsaw mayor also showed up for a conversation with Mentzen on his channel -- where he agreed with some items but declined to sign the statement. He was later photographed chatting over pints with Mentzen at the far-right leader's pub. 'Breaking away' from duopoly The job of the president in Poland is largely ceremonial but comes with crucial veto power. That has stymied Tusk, the prime minister, from delivering on his manifesto that included judicial reforms, changes to the abortion law and introducing civil unions. President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is not eligible to run after two terms in office, has signalled that he would veto such bills. But the ruling centrists have yet to vote them through in parliament. Trzaskowski has pledged, were he to win, to back measures to allow abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy. On LGBTQ rights, another hot-button issue in Catholic-majority Poland, Trzaskowski has said he backed the idea of civil unions, including for same-sex couples. But the pledges failed to convince young voters, who overwhelmingly voted for Mentzen, a Eurosceptic libertarian staunchly against abortion and migrants. According to an exit poll after the first round, Mentzen won in the 18-29 age group with over 36 percent, followed by left-wing candidate Adrian Zandberg with nearly 20 percent of votes. Both Mentzen and Zandberg relied on social media to boost their campaign outreach, and both ran on a platform to end the era of two main parties. Civic Platform and Law and Justice have by turns ruled Poland for the past 20 years. "Young people are breaking away from this duopoly," said Ewelina Nowakowska, a political analyst from the SWPS university. "There is a very strong tendency among them to look for new political parties and new faces," she told AFP.
