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Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
High stakes as Poland heads to round two of presidential election
Warsaw, Poland – The streets of Warsaw were awash with red-and-white flags last Sunday as two presidential hopefuls and their supporters marched through the capital for one last time before Poland takes to polls on Sunday, June 1, in the second round of voting for the country's next president. Rafał Trzaskowski from the centre-right Civic Platform of the governing Civic Coalition and Karol Nawrocki, an independent candidate supported by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ran Poland between 2015 and 2023, are the two remaining contenders in the election. In the first round of polls on May 18, Trzaskowski won 31.1 percent of the votes while Nawrocki came second with 29.5 percent. So far, polling groups say the vote is split fairly evenly between the two for the final round. A poll by IBRiS for Polish news outlet Onet, has found that 47.7 percent of respondents intend to vote for Trzaskowski, with 46 percent indicating they will vote for Nawrocki. The rest are unsure. One of the two will succeed Andrzej Duda, the outgoing nationalist conservative president who was also backed by PiS and has been blamed for holding up justice reforms by using his veto against the government. This is a hotly contested race. Trzaskowski and Nawrocki have clashed over the European Union, national security and social values. At the same time, both candidates take a similarly hardline approach to immigration, and have used anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, building on growing resentment among Poles who see themselves as competing for strained social services with 1.55 million Ukrainian migrants and war refugees. While Trzaskowski has proposed that only working Ukrainians should have access to the country's child benefit, Nawrocki has gone further, saying he would also be against Ukraine joining NATO or even the EU. Speaking at his 'Patriots' March', which gathered about 140,000 supporters last weekend, Trzaskowski took aim at his opponent while calling for unity. 'It's high time for honesty to win. It's high time for integrity to win. It's high time for justice to win. It's high time for truth to win. That's what these elections are about,' he declared to a cheering crowd. 'Full determination is needed. Every vote is needed. So that the future wins. So that all of Poland wins.'Trzaskowski has served as Warsaw's mayor since 2018. His comments about 'honesty' are seen as a reference to a recent news story about Nawrocki's alleged purchase of a flat in Gdansk belonging to an elderly man in exchange for a promise to provide him with care. According to the man's family, the promise was not fulfilled, and he was placed in a state nursing home. In response, Nawrocki has said he will donate the flat to charity and pointed out that under Trzaskowski's mayorship, families had been evicted from state accommodation in Warsaw. Trzaskowski is viewed as a more liberal candidate than his opponent and has, unlike Nawrocki, supported calls for LGBTQ rights, as well as the liberalisation of the country's strict abortion law in the past. He has remained largely silent about these issues during the current campaign, however. If elected, he would be more likely to help the governing coalition pass various bills, primarily reforms to the rule of law and the justice system, which have so far been blocked by Duda. 'Rafał Trzaskowski would be a pro-European politician,' said Bartosz Rydlinski, political scientist from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. 'Brussels, Paris and Berlin would be the first capitals he would visit. He would try to maintain close relations with the US, but focus on strengthening the European component, both in the European Union and in NATO.' Nawrocki's weekend 'March for Poland' through central Warsaw gathered close to 50,000 supporters, and emphasised his nationalist conservative, pro-Catholic and free-market views. He argues that Poland should be prioritising its relationship with the US over the EU. But his real triumph came this week when he received an official endorsement from Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump's secretary of homeland security. Nawrocki laid out his plan for Poland's future on Tuesday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual event hosted by the American Conservative Union (US) for US conservative activists and officials. The event is usually held in the US, but took place in Hungary in 2022. This year, it was held in the Polish town of Jasionka, southeastern Poland, close to the air and shipment hub which supplies weapons and aid to Ukraine. 'For us, for Poles, relations with the United States are based on a deep foundation of values. These values are freedom, democracy, and sovereignty,' he told the audience, which included US Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, Vice President JD Vance, the billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk and Steve Bannon, the former White House political strategist in 2017 during Trump's first term as president. 'My opponent, Rafał Trzaskowski, is playing dishonestly,' said Nawrocki, who claims Trzaskowski would follow EU orders blindly, including on relaxing immigration rules. 'Not only does he lie during public debates and get caught in these lies, but he also doesn't want to say what his real idea for Poland after June 1st, 2025, is. And this idea is obvious. Speed up the migration pact, speed up the climate pact and pursue a policy that is important for Brussels, not for our security.' The event was a much-needed boost for Nawrocki after a long week of bad news. First, on May 22, Slawomir Mentzen, the far-right head of free-market party Konfederacja, who came third in the first round of the presidential election, claimed on his YouTube channel interview with Nawrocki that the PiS candidate had taken part in a fight between football hooligans in 2014 – something Nawrocki has never denied. Then, in a TV debate the following day, he was seen placing a small sachet on his gum, thought to be filled with tobacco, but which prompted speculation that he might have been taking drugs. Nawrocki responded by providing a negative drug test result on Tuesday. Finally, a news story was published by Onet, citing anonymous sources, claiming that as a young man, Nawrocki had participated in supplying prostitutes to guests of the Grand Hotel in the seaside city of Sopot, where he worked as a security guard in 2007. Nawrocki denied the claims and, in a post on X, stated that he would sue the outlet. But the negative news does not seem to have affected his support. 'When it comes to the hooligan fight, he was 28 at the time, and I don't have a problem with that because I think that men should know how to fight. When it comes to other issues – everyone can make a mistake, and it does not have to mean bad intentions,' said Marcin Mamon, a right-wing freelance journalist who claimed the alleged scandals involving Nawrocki have been exaggerated. 'For me, voting for a conservative or right-wing candidate is a declaration of values, such as the Catholic faith. Voting for the other candidate means voting against the Church and for abortion, which I'm totally against.'Having a like-minded president would be crucial for the governing Civic Platform to reverse controversial judicial reforms introduced by the former PiS government, especially regarding the independence of the judiciary. As a result of the changes, which were deemed to contradict European law, in 2021, the European Union imposed penalties on Poland. While Civic Platform came to power in 2023 with the promise of reversing the controversial laws, it has been unable to do so as President Duda holds a right to veto and would block any attempts at changing the law. 'Nawrocki's victory would mean a total war with the government,' said Rydlinski. 'He would be a much more conservative president than Andrzej Duda, and he would probably refer many bills to the Constitutional Tribunal, which is still under the control of judges elected by the Law and Justice government.' According to experts, a victory for Nawrocki would also put Poland on a conflict course with Europe. 'Karol Nawrocki would very strongly opt for bilateral relations between Warsaw and Washington, breaking up the EU's unity,' Rydlinski said. 'He would be a mini-Trump in Central Europe, which would mean a major conflict with Germany, cooling relations with France, and certainly a conflict with Brussels.' Nawrocki's conservatism and fascination with Trump have sparked concern among some Polish voters. Those who voted for left-wing or centrist candidates in the first round are likely to unite now, not in their support for Trzaskowski, but against what they see as Nawrocki's Trump-like vision for Poland. The left-wing and centrist candidates who lost in the first round have declared their support for Trzaskowski, and their supporters are expected to follow suit. 'Putting a cross next to Trzaskowski will not come easy for me,' said Zofia Szeremet, a 20-year-old student based in Warsaw who voted for the left-wing leader of the Razem party, Adrian Zandberg, in the first round. 'But I can't imagine not voting in such an important election. I don't agree with Trzaskowski on many issues, but at the end of the day, he is a guarantee for Poland's pro-European course. 'Nawrocki is anti-EU, anti-Ukrainian, inexperienced and incompetent, and I don't imagine a president having ties with hooligan movements.'Polls are inconclusive when it comes to the election favourite. What the first round of the vote has revealed, however, is that voters are tired of the continuous primacy of the two biggest parties. 'If we add up the results of Nawrocki and Trzaskowski, it is slightly above 60 percent, the worst result since 2005. It is clear that Poles are looking for an alternative, and not only on the right, but also to the left,' said Marcin Palade, political sociologist and expert on electoral geography in Poland. This compares with the nearly 74 percent won by the top two candidates in the 2020 presidential election – Andrzej Duda and Rafal Trzaskowski. 'Rafał Trzaskowski finished the first round [this year] below even what the polls predicted would be the minimum he could win, which is the worst possible scenario,' Palade said. 'Nawrocki had the worst result a PiS candidate has had since 2005, below the ratings of the party that has stood behind him.' Furthermore, there may be more voters in the second round: Voter turnout for the first round was 67.3 percent. Palade added: 'The second round will be decided by young people, but also by those who did not vote in the first round. It is an open question whom they will support.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Pub takes centre stage in presidential race as Polish voters go for another round
Even before 29 million Poles choose a new president on Sunday, many believe their country's political future has already been decided – in a pub three hours northwest of Warsaw. Sunday's presidential run-off is a close race between two very different candidates: Rafal Trzaskowski, the capital's pro-EU, liberal mayor; and Karol Nawrocki, a national conservative historian with Maga-like ambitions. The new head of state, with control of the defence forces and powers to veto legislation, will shape Poland's path in the EU and Nato. And supercharge – or hobble – prime minister Donald Tusk 's efforts to deliver on political promises that took him back to power in December 2023. With just one percentage point separating them, both presidential hopefuls are courting Slawomir Mentzen, a far-right libertarian politician and pub-owner. READ MORE The 38-year-old finished third in the presidential election first round almost a fortnight ago, making his 15 per cent voter bloc now the most valuable commodity in Polish politics. Poland's conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki. Photograph: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images Govem Mentzen is by far the most popular candidate among younger voters – he took a third of the under-30 vote – and Poland's two presidential front-runners were quick to accept an invitation to his craft brewery and pub in the small town of Torun. It is filled with political bric-a-brac and agitprop and operates a very public list of banned politicians. Metzen posted his conversations from here on his YouTube channel, where he has more than one million subscribers, simultaneously boosting both his political profile and craft beer brand. He promised a candidate endorsement days later. The trip to Torun paid off for Trzaskowski almost immediately when a post-conversation picture of him sharing a beer with Mentzen went viral on social media. Warsaw's 53-year-old mayor needs all the help he can get – and the real prospect of defeat has set alarm bells ringing with Tusk. The liberal prime minister has spent his first 18 months back in power battling on two fronts: a president allied with the opposition Law and Jusice (PiS) party who has vetoed judicial reforms and other legislation; and warring coalition allies who disagree on key election promises, including a more liberal abortion policy. 'I'm sorry, yes, you all expected us to do more, faster and be stronger,' said Tusk at a weekend rally. 'So I ask you: give us the strength, so that we can change Poland as we promised.' As PiS-allied candidate Nawrocki is presenting himself as Poland's last defence against a looming Tusk 'coup'. 'I will be the president of your future, I won't allow our future and our childrens' future to be stolen by those who want the destruction of the Polish state,' he said. Earlier this month Nawrocki was photographed in the White House with Donald Trump , who has promised further US military investment in Poland if Nawrocki wins. Nawrocki has promised a strongly nationalist platform with another migration crackdown and presidential pushback against EU plans to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. 'We are for the Polish farmer, the Polish field and Polish bread at the Polish table,' he told a rally on Sunday in Warsaw. But Nawrocki has struggled to maintain his message in the campaign amid a surge of scandals: over an undeclared second home; alleged links to organised crime and prostitution rings, which he denies; and revelations he participated, in the early 2000s, in organised football hooligan fights. He called them a form of 'noble, masculine combat' and, in the last days of campaigning, began dropping into rally speeches mentions of 'stolen elections'. That has raised speculation that, if he loses, his PiS backers will challenge Sunday's vote as illegitimate. Presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski is also mayor of Warsaw. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images Election analysts are predicting a tight result after polls close at 9pm. The first round attracted a record 67 per cent of voters and post-poll analysis revealed the usual Polish divide: Trzaskowski more popular in liberal western Poland and Nawrocki ahead in more conservative eastern regions. Trzaskowski was also the favourite among Poles voting outside the country, on 37 per cent. However, the Trump-endorsed Nawrocki took 42 per cent of the sizeable US Polish diaspora vote. With such a tight race, polling agencies say the expat vote could swing the final outcome. After stringing along both presidential candidates, on Wednesday Mentzen decided to endorse neither. On a YouTube livestream he said he saw 'no reason' to vote for the 'slippery' Trzaskowski, accusing him of breaking promises and disowning failures. Meanwhile, Nawrocki's life was a 'great cinematic tale', Mentzen said, but after a series of colourful campaign revelations, 'I wouldn't be surprised if there are more such episodes in his past'. With all eyes on him, Mentzen promised to smash the liberal and national-conservative camps that have dominated Polish politics for two decades. His aim is to go mainstream with Confederation, his party that marries libertarian economics with far-right nationalism. 'I don't know what the future holds but it may turn out that, in two years, it'll be Confederation deciding who governs Poland,' said Mentzen to his YouTube audience. 'I intend to end this duopoly and finally bring change to Poland.'
Washington Post
3 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
South Korean presidential election roiled by coffee beans, Chanel bags and room salon
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's presidential race has devolved into personal attacks and petty disputes, drowning out meaningful policy debate after former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster over his martial law fiasco. The bitter mudslinging between liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung and conservative opponent Kim Moon Soo escalated during Tuesday night's final presidential debate, with Lee branding Kim 'Yoon Suk Yeol's avatar' and Kim denouncing Lee as a 'harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship.'
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
South Korean presidential election roiled by coffee beans, Chanel bags and room salon
South Korea's presidential race has devolved into personal attacks and petty disputes, drowning out meaningful policy debate after former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster over his martial law fiasco. The bitter mudslinging between liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung and conservative opponent Kim Moon Soo escalated during Tuesday night's final presidential debate, with Lee branding Kim 'Yoon Suk Yeol's avatar' and Kim denouncing Lee as a 'harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship." Here is a look at the words and controversies that have roiled the presidential contest as two days of early voting begins Thursday ahead of the June 3 election: Lee roasted over coffee beans Consistently trailing Lee in opinion polls, Kim has focused on dredging up his legal troubles and casting the outspoken Democratic Party candidate as a dangerous, hardline populist whose economic promises are detached from reality. For days, Kim's camp has seized on what appeared to be a casual comment by Lee about the profitability of running coffee shops during a May 16 campaign rally in Gunsan city. Lee was touting his past policy as Gyeonggi Province governor in 2019, when he relocated unlicensed food vendors from the province's popular mountain streams to clean up and revitalize tourist areas. Lee said he offered to help vendors transition to legitimate businesses and suggested it would be far more profitable to sell coffee than their labor-intensive chicken porridge. Lee said he noted that a cup of coffee could sell for 8,000 to 10,000 won ($5.8 to $7.3), while the raw cost of beans was just 120 won (9 cents). The remarks quickly struck a nerve in a country where the rapid spread of small coffee shops has come to symbolize the struggles of the self-employed in a decaying job market. Kim's People Power Party accused Lee of 'driving a nail into the hearts of small business owners' by portraying coffee shops as profiteering and said he misunderstood the factors behind retail pricing. Lee accused the conservatives of distorting his remarks, saying he was simply explaining how he had helped vendors operate in a better environment. Kim sidesteps a Chanel bag scandal Kim's avoidance of direct criticism of Yoon over his martial law decree has been a major source of Lee's political offensive against him. When Yoon appeared May 21 to view a documentary film justifying his martial law decree and raising unfounded claims about how the liberals benefited from election fraud, some PPP members lamented he was practically campaigning for Lee. Kim, formerly Yoon's labor minister, only said he would do his best as president to eliminate suspicions of alleged election fraud. Kim also has not offered any notable reaction to various scandals surrounding Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee. Prosecutors in Seoul are investigating fresh allegations that the former first lady received luxury gifts, including two Chanel bags, from a Unification Church official seeking business favors after Yoon took office in 2022. She previously faced several other allegations including receiving a Dior bag from a Korean American pastor and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme. During the presidential debate, Lee claimed Yoon would return as a 'shadow ruler' behind Kim, and Kim skirted Lee's question about whether he would pardon Yoon. Allegations from a 'room salon' The 'room salon' is a long-standing symbol of South Korea's male-oriented nightlife culture. The expensive, private karaoke bar where hostesses drink and sing with male customers abruptly emerged as a hot election issue. Lee's party alleged a judge handling Yoon's rebellion trial visited one of the bars in affluent southern Seoul last year with two unidentified people. It said his companions paid the bill and they were likely linked to his work as a judge, representing a conflict of interest. The judge, Jee Kui-youn, has been at the center of bipartisan wrangling since he approved Yoon's release from prison in March and allowed him to stand his trial without physical detention. 'We should strip him of his judge robe," party spokesperson Noh Jongmyun said. "Isn't it preposterous for him to serve as chief judge for the rebellion trial where the fate of Korea's democracy lies?' Jee denied the allegations, saying that like many ordinary people he enjoys 'samgyeopsal,' grilled pork bellies, and 'somaek,' shots mixing beer and the traditional Korean liquor soju. Conservative critics accuse the Democratic Party of trying to tame the judiciary branch as Lee faces five criminal trials over corruption and other allegations. Chaos over unifying candidacies South Korea does not hold a second round of runoff elections. Subsequently, when there is a clear frontrunner it is common for two remaining rivals to launch a unified campaign in which one withdraws and supports the other in exchange for a high-profile role in the government. With Lee maintaining a solid lead, this year's race saw a similar maneuver among conservatives, but the extremely chaotic, undemocratic manner failed and hurt Kim's campaign. Believing Han Duck-soo, Yoon's former prime minister, had a better chance of defeating Lee, PPP leaders consisting primarily of Yoon loyalists held late night, emergency meetings to cancel Kim's nomination and push a candidacy by Han, an independent. The attempt was rejected the next day in a vote by party members. Kim called the move 'an overnight political coup" and later made efforts to align with Lee Joon-seok, the candidate of the smaller conservative party. Lee has flatly rejected the overture.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
South Korean presidential election roiled by coffee beans, Chanel bags and room salon
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's presidential race has devolved into personal attacks and petty disputes, drowning out meaningful policy debate after former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster over his martial law fiasco. The bitter mudslinging between liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung and conservative opponent Kim Moon Soo escalated during Tuesday night's final presidential debate, with Lee branding Kim 'Yoon Suk Yeol's avatar' and Kim denouncing Lee as a 'harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship.' Here is a look at the words and controversies that have roiled the presidential contest as two days of early voting begins Thursday ahead of the June 3 election: Lee roasted over coffee beans Consistently trailing Lee in opinion polls, Kim has focused on dredging up his legal troubles and casting the outspoken Democratic Party candidate as a dangerous, hardline populist whose economic promises are detached from reality. For days, Kim's camp has seized on what appeared to be a casual comment by Lee about the profitability of running coffee shops during a May 16 campaign rally in Gunsan city. Lee was touting his past policy as Gyeonggi Province governor in 2019, when he relocated unlicensed food vendors from the province's popular mountain streams to clean up and revitalize tourist areas. Lee said he offered to help vendors transition to legitimate businesses and suggested it would be far more profitable to sell coffee than their labor-intensive chicken porridge. Lee said he noted that a cup of coffee could sell for 8,000 to 10,000 won ($5.8 to $7.3), while the raw cost of beans was just 120 won (9 cents). The remarks quickly struck a nerve in a country where the rapid spread of small coffee shops has come to symbolize the struggles of the self-employed in a decaying job market. Kim's People Power Party accused Lee of 'driving a nail into the hearts of small business owners' by portraying coffee shops as profiteering and said he misunderstood the factors behind retail pricing. Lee accused the conservatives of distorting his remarks, saying he was simply explaining how he had helped vendors operate in a better environment. Kim sidesteps a Chanel bag scandal Kim's avoidance of direct criticism of Yoon over his martial law decree has been a major source of Lee's political offensive against him. When Yoon appeared May 21 to view a documentary film justifying his martial law decree and raising unfounded claims about how the liberals benefited from election fraud, some PPP members lamented he was practically campaigning for Lee. Kim, formerly Yoon's labor minister, only said he would do his best as president to eliminate suspicions of alleged election fraud. Kim also has not offered any notable reaction to various scandals surrounding Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee. Prosecutors in Seoul are investigating fresh allegations that the former first lady received luxury gifts, including two Chanel bags, from a Unification Church official seeking business favors after Yoon took office in 2022. She previously faced several other allegations including receiving a Dior bag from a Korean American pastor and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme. During the presidential debate, Lee claimed Yoon would return as a 'shadow ruler' behind Kim, and Kim skirted Lee's question about whether he would pardon Yoon. Allegations from a 'room salon' The 'room salon' is a long-standing symbol of South Korea's male-oriented nightlife culture. The expensive, private karaoke bar where hostesses drink and sing with male customers abruptly emerged as a hot election issue. Lee's party alleged a judge handling Yoon's rebellion trial visited one of the bars in affluent southern Seoul last year with two unidentified people. It said his companions paid the bill and they were likely linked to his work as a judge, representing a conflict of interest. The judge, Jee Kui-youn, has been at the center of bipartisan wrangling since he approved Yoon's release from prison in March and allowed him to stand his trial without physical detention. 'We should strip him of his judge robe,' party spokesperson Noh Jongmyun said. 'Isn't it preposterous for him to serve as chief judge for the rebellion trial where the fate of Korea's democracy lies?' Jee denied the allegations, saying that like many ordinary people he enjoys 'samgyeopsal,' grilled pork bellies, and 'somaek,' shots mixing beer and the traditional Korean liquor soju. Conservative critics accuse the Democratic Party of trying to tame the judiciary branch as Lee faces five criminal trials over corruption and other allegations. Chaos over unifying candidacies South Korea does not hold a second round of runoff elections. Subsequently, when there is a clear frontrunner it is common for two remaining rivals to launch a unified campaign in which one withdraws and supports the other in exchange for a high-profile role in the government. With Lee maintaining a solid lead, this year's race saw a similar maneuver among conservatives, but the extremely chaotic, undemocratic manner failed and hurt Kim's campaign. Believing Han Duck-soo, Yoon's former prime minister, had a better chance of defeating Lee, PPP leaders consisting primarily of Yoon loyalists held late night, emergency meetings to cancel Kim's nomination and push a candidacy by Han, an independent. The attempt was rejected the next day in a vote by party members. Kim called the move 'an overnight political coup' and later made efforts to align with Lee Joon-seok, the candidate of the smaller conservative party. Lee has flatly rejected the overture.
