The populist-right opposition candidateKarol Nawrocki, backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), has won Poland’s presidential election, defeating his pro-European rivalRafał Trzaskowski, in a nail-bitingly close contest.
Official results showed Nawrocki took 50.89% of votes in the runoff, with Trzaskowski on 49.11%.
Nawrocki’s victory is a major blow for the coalition government led byDonald Tuskand is expected to prolong the current political deadlock in the country as well as complicate the country’s position in Europe.
The results comes after a dramatic turnaround given the first exit poll published just as the polls closed had suggested a narrow win for Trzaskowski by 0.6pp, prompting him to declare victory.
Nawrocki did not concede, saying he remained confident he would win when all the votes were counted. “We will win and savePoland,” he said. “We must win tonight.”
During a bitterly fought and often bad-tempered campaign in recent weeks, the two men have offered very different visions of Poland, and the result of the race will have enormous implications for the country’s political future, given the president’s ability to veto government legislation.
Nationalist historianKarolNawrockiis a former amateur boxer with a particular interest in the criminal underworld. Here’s more from AFP:
While the role of the Polish president islargely ceremonial, it carries some influence over foreign and defence policy anda critical power to veto new legislation.This can only be overturned with a 60% majority in parliament, which the current government, led byDonald Tusk, does not have.
At stake is whetherTusk’sgovernment will be able to make progress on its electoral promises on the rule of law and social issues, including abortion and LGBTQ rights, after 18 months of difficult cohabitation with the opposition president,Andrzej Duda.
Nawrocki’swin is expected to prolong the deadlock, making it difficult if not impossible for the government to pass any big reforms before the 2027 parliamentary election.
“Tusk knows the stakes and that if Nawrocki wins,he’s got a lame-duck administration for the next couple of years.And it will be worse than with Duda as Nawrocki will come in fresh, with a new mandate from what effectively turned into a referendum on the government,” ProfAleks Szczerbiak, who teaches east and central European politics at the University of Sussex, said prior to the election.
The populist-right opposition candidateKarol Nawrocki, backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), has won Poland’s presidential election, defeating his pro-European rivalRafał Trzaskowski, in a nail-bitingly close contest.
Official results showed Nawrocki took 50.89% of votes in the runoff, with Trzaskowski on 49.11%.
Nawrocki’s victory is a major blow for the coalition government led byDonald Tuskand is expected to prolong the current political deadlock in the country as well as complicate the country’s position in Europe.
The results comes after a dramatic turnaround given the first exit poll published just as the polls closed had suggested a narrow win for Trzaskowski by 0.6pp, prompting him to declare victory.
Nawrocki did not concede, saying he remained confident he would win when all the votes were counted. “We will win and savePoland,” he said. “We must win tonight.”
During a bitterly fought and often bad-tempered campaign in recent weeks, the two men have offered very different visions of Poland, and the result of the race will have enormous implications for the country’s political future, given the president’s ability to veto government legislation.