Polish ruling-party candidate pushes back against far right

Piotr Bujnicki, Bloomberg News on May 24, 2025

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WARSAW — Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who narrowly won the first round of Poland’s presidential election, is pushing back against the far right ahead of his runoff with opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki on June 1.

Trzaskowski, a party ally of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, faced off over Ukraine in a YouTube debate on Saturday with far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen, whose supporters are in play for the two runoff candidates.

“I fundamentally disagree with you,” Trzaskowski told Mentzen, who opposes granting Ukraine membership in NATO.

“I would prefer Putin to knock out all his teeth in Ukraine rather than here,” said Trzaskowski, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I am in favor of Ukraine being part of Europe, not in Putin’s hands.”

Support for the two candidates was tied at 47% in an Ipsos poll published Friday.

Nawrocki has said he backs eight policy conditions set by Mentzen to win his endorsement. Trzaskowski declined to sign the list, while agreeing with Mentzen that Poland shouldn’t introduce new taxes, curb access to guns, send soldiers to Ukraine or adopt the euro. He also vowed to protect access to cash payments.

The two presidential candidates plan to hold parallel march in downtown Warsaw on Sunday.