Karol Nawrocki, the conservative historian who won Poland’s presidential election, cultivated a tough-guy image during his campaign, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
While his liberal opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski, played up his European credentials, Nawrocki met Donald Trump at the White House and received the U.S. President’s backing for his bid for Poland’s top job.
According to the final result from the electoral commission, Nawrocki won the election with 50.89% of the votes.
Unlike other Eurosceptics in Central Europe, such as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico or Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Nawrocki supports providing military aid to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
However, he has stated that, if elected, he would oppose membership in Western alliances for Ukraine, a position designed to resonate with declining public support for Ukrainians among Poles, who have hosted more than a million refugees from across the border.
His backers in the Law and Justice (PiS) party had supported fast-tracking membership in the EU and NATO for Kyiv while in power until late 2023.
Nawrocki’s critics argue that he fuelled unease over Ukrainian refugees at a time when the far-right is highlighting issues such as migration, the cost of living, and security. He cited his campaign slogan, Poland First.
“Let’s help others, but let’s take care of our own citizens first,” he said on social media in April.
He is likely to follow a similar path to outgoing President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally who used his veto power to block the pro-EU government’s efforts to undo the previous PiS administration’s judicial reforms. The EU contends that these reforms undermined the independence of the judiciary.
The Fight on the Right
In the last two weeks of the campaign, the candidates mainly competed for the support of voters who had backed other candidates in the first round, in particular, far-right candidate Slawomir Mentzen, who secured 15% of the vote.
Trzaskowski attempted to appeal to these voters with promises of deregulation. Nawrocki highlighted his credentials as head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), voiced support for gun ownership, traditional families, and Christian values, and adopted a more critical stance on Ukraine, in line with Mentzen’s rhetoric.
His wife Marta, a civil servant, and their three children featured prominently in his campaign.
Nawrocki’s past has been the subject of intense public scrutiny following a series of negative media reports. Questions were raised about his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner and an admission that he had participated in orchestrated brawls.
“All my sports activities were based on the strength of my heart, the strength of my muscles, my fists,” said Nawrocki, an amateur boxer, during a debate when asked about reports that he had taken part in mass organised fights between football hooligans. “It was a fair competition, regardless of the form.”
His Law and Justice party supporters have accused the government of orchestrating the controversies with help from Poland’s special services and liberal media. The government has denied these accusations.
Nawrocki portrayed the election as a referendum on the government, which he characterised as a metropolitan elite out of touch with ordinary people’s concerns.
“I am simply one of you,” he told voters in the eastern town of Biała Podlaska during the campaign trail.
(Reuters)