The conservative Karol Nawrocki won the elections of presidential runoff on the weekend of Poland, according to the final count of Monday. Nawrocki won 50.89% of the votes in a very tight race against the liberal mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzawski, who received 49.11%.
The race had Poland to the limit from a first voting round two weeks before, revealing deep divisions in the country along the Eastern NATO flank and the European Union.
An early starting survey published on Sunday night suggested that Trzawski went to victory before updated surveys began to reverse the image a couple of hours later.
The result suggests that you can expect Poland to take a more populist and nationalist path under his new leader, which was backed by President Trump.
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated Nawrocki. In a publication about X, he said he is “sure that the EU will continue its very good cooperation with Poland.”
Most of the daily power in the Polish political system is based on a prime minister, chosen by Parliament. However, the president’s role is not simply ceremonial. The office has the power to influence foreign policy and veto legislation.
Nawrocki will happen to Andrzej doubt, a conservative whose second and last term ends on August 6.
According to the Polish Constitution, the president celebrates a period of five years and can be re -elected once.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power at the end of 2023 with a coalition government that covers a wide idological division, so wide that it has not been able to fulfill certain of Tusk’s electoral promises, such as losing in the restrictive abortion couples.
But the veto power of doubt has been another obstacle. He has prevented Tusk from fulfilling the promises to reverse laws that politicized the judicial system in a way that the European Union declared antidemocratic.
Now it seems that Tusk will not have those promises, which Hen made both voters and the EU.
Some observers in Poland have said that the promises not fulfilled could be more difficult for Tusk to continue their mandate until the next parliamentary elections scheduled by the end of 2027, in part if the law and justice hang the perspective of future co -parties.
Incoming background of the president
Nawrocki, a 42 -year -old boxer and amateur historian, was taken advantage of by the law and justice as part of his impulse for a new beginning.
The party ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, when it lost power against a centrist coalition led by Tusk. Some political observers predicted that the party would never return, and Nawocki was chosen as a new face that would be burned by the scandals of the eight years of party of the party.
The strategy clearly worked.
Nawrocki has recently led the head of the National Memory Institute, which encompasses nationalist historical narratives. The efforts led to defeat the monuments to the Red Soviet army in Poland, and Russia responded by placing it on a list of desires, according to the reports of the Polish media.
Nawocki supporters describe him as the incarnation of traditional patriotic values. Those who oppose secular trends, including LGBTQ+visibility, have embraced it, seeing it as a reflection of the values with which they grew.
Nawrocki’s candidacy was clouded by accusations of connections adjusted to criminal figures and his participation in a violent street fight. He denies the criminal links, but he did not apologize on the street fight, saying that he had tasks in the “noble” fights in his life. The revelations did not seem to support among the voters on the right, many of whom see the accusations as motivated policies.
Nawrocki backed by Trump
Trump made it clear that he wanted Nawrocki as president of Poland.
Nawrocki welcome to the White House a month ago. And last week, the conservative group CPAC held its first meeting in Poland to give Nawrocki a boost. Kristi Call, the US Secretary of National Security and a prominent Trump ally, strongly praised Nawrocki and urged Poles to vote for him.
The United States has about 10,000 troops parked in Poland and Call suggested that military ties could be deepened with Nawocki as president.
A common chorus of Nawocki supporters is that it will restore “normality”, as Mr. Trump has done. The American flags often appeared in the manifestations of Nawrocki, and their supporters believed that he sacrificed a better opportunity for good ties with the Trump administration.
Nawrocki has also echoed the language of Mr. Trump in Ukraine. Promises to continuous support of Poland for Ukraine But he has been critical or president Volodyymyr Zenskyy, accusing or taking advantage of the allies. He has been accused of Ukrainian refugees or the advantage of Polish generosity, promising to prioritize Polish for social services such as medical care and education.
