4 days ago
Trump ally wins Polish presidential election
Poland has a new conservative-leaning, pro-Trump president after a nail-biting election.
The first exit poll last night suggested that liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski was on course for victory, but after the final count, conservative candidate, Karol Nawrocki, was declared the winner with 50.9 percent of the vote.
Karol Nawrocki, a previously little-known historian, won the backing of the conservative opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), and support from Donald Trump in the White House.
Great meeting with
@POTUS
. It was an honour to discuss the bright future of Poland-U.S. relations.
— Karol Nawrocki (@NawrockiKn)
May 2, 2025
Nawrocki – a keen sportsman and amateur boxer – said that the election campaign had been 'an unequal fight' and presented himself as the underdog.
In reality the race was close throughout the campaign.
The presidential role is largely ceremonial in Poland, but the president does have the power to wave through, or hold up, new laws.
Standing for assertive nationalism and what the right euphemistically refers to as traditional family values, Nawrocki is expected to block Prime Minister Donald Tusk's attempts to liberalise Poland's strict abortion rules put in place by the previous PiS government.
Tusk's promises of allowing same-sex civil partnerships also now looks unachievable.
Nawrocki's win ends a string of surprise defeats for Trumpian candidates in recent elections, including in
Canada
,
Romania
and
Australia
.
At home, Nawrocki's success is a huge boost to PiS ahead of parliamentary elections in two years' time and it is unnerving for Tusk's coalition.
Rafał Trzaskowski is a well known and well liked frequent visitor to Brussels and there is no doubt that he was the preferred choice of many in EU circles.
'This result reminds us that you cannot determine the future of Europe in Brussels without listening to its peoples,' said PiS MEP, Patryk Jaki, who is also leader of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament.
'This election shows that citizens want real choices, not pre-approved candidates and predetermined policies. Democracy in Europe needs conviction, not conformity.'
In Brussels, there's a sense that Nawrocki's victory does not pose a direct threat to the European Union – he is fairly pro-EU and pro-Ukraine – so he is not expected to join
Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán
, and Slovakia's PM, Robert Fico, in the naughty corner.
However, he could come into conflict with the European Union if he stands in the way of Tusk's reforms.
'I'm confident that the EU will continue its very good cooperation with Poland.'
– Ursula von der Leyen
Since coming to office in 2023, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been trying to deconstruct state apparatus put in place by the previous PiS administration. That included control of state media and, what the EU saw as an alarming politicisation of the judicial system.
Tusk's efforts have been largely stymied by the outgoing PiS president and Nawrocki has hinted that he will be yet more assertive than his predecessor.
In her congratulatory message, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, struck a conciliatory tone.
'I'm confident that the EU will continue its very good cooperation with Poland. We are all stronger together in our community of peace, democracy, and values. So let us work to ensure the security and prosperity of our common home,' she wrote on social media.
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