Polish presidential hopefuls rally supporters ahead of vote

Supporters of Poland’s presidential contenders took to the streets of Warsaw on Sunday for parallel marches that highlight deep divisions in the European Union nation a week before a tightly-contested runoff election.

Pro-government Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is running neck-and-neck with Karol Nawrocki, who’s backed by the main opposition Law & Justice party and has sought to attract far-right voters. The election will decide whether one of the EU’s fastest-growing economies can resist the surge of populism sweeping the bloc.

“It’s now or never,” Trzaskowski, 53, told supporters carrying red-and-white Polish flags. “We’re in the final stretch, we need determination, we need every vote so that we win the future.”

Both candidates hope the marches will mobilize their supporters in the contest’s final days. Trzaskowski narrowly won the first round of the vote after starting as a hands-down favorite for the presidency. He’s faced a tougher than expected challenge from Nawrocki, 42, a historian and former boxer with no political experience.

The stakes are high for pro-European ruling coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who wrested back power from Law & Justice in a general election in 2023.

A victory for Nawrocki would keep the government and president at loggerheads, possibly hampering Tusk’s efforts to roll back eight years of populist rule, which has faced obstruction from outgoing President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the formerly ruling nationalists.

Nawrocki made a pitch for divided government at his rally, saying “One political group will not govern Poland!”

Trzaskowski and Tusk were joined at Sunday’s rally by newly-elected Romanian President Nicusor Dan, who defeated a far-right candidate in the nation’s ballot a week ago. Dan’s victory was propelled by Romania’s highest voter turnout in a quarter century, blocking a candidate who’d embraced U.S. President Donald Trump’s brand of politics.

“The values we believe in are democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech,” Dan said in Warsaw. “I will work closely with President Rafal Trzaskowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk to ensure a strong Poland and a strong European Union.”

According to preliminary estimates by city services, the march in support of Trzaskowski was attended by about 140,000 people, and the gathering of Nawrocki supporters by about 50,000 people, PAP newswire reported.

Tusk has sought to rally his supporters behind Trzaskowski, unveiling tax cuts and ramping up rhetoric against migration, a key issue for nationalist voters. The Warsaw mayor dubbed Sunday’s rally the “Great March of Patriots” in a nod to the importance of the nationalist electorate.

Trzaskowski has focused on Nawrocki’s lack of foreign policy experience, and blamed him for the failures of the previous administration in a two-hour debate on Friday night. The following day, he joined far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen on his YouTube channel, where the two sparred over support for Ukraine. Mentzen’s supporters are being wooed by both runoff contenders after he and another right-wing candidate, Grzegorz Braun, won a fifth of the vote in the first round.

Mentzen, with 14.8% of the first-round vote, and Braun, with 6.3%, are both critics of the EU and support Poland’s abortion law, one of Europe’s most strict.

“It’s about values; the other side has them all over the place and on the right we are constant, we are patriots,” said Jolanta Kowal, 55, a small business owner from the outskirts of Warsaw. “We’re closest to Mentzen, but feel safer with Nawrocki in the second round,” added her husband, Zbigniew.

Trzaskowski and Nawrocki have starkly different visions for Poland’s place in the world, at a time of high tension on Europe’s eastern flank. Their personal backgrounds are as distinct as their country is now divided.

Trzaskowski, the polyglot son of a prominent jazz musician, is a pro-European liberal from Warsaw who studied at Oxford and in Paris. He’s made his years at the helm of Poland’s growing capital a cornerstone of his campaign and is known for his progressive views on LGBTQ rights and advocacy for repealing Poland’s abortion law.

The former head of a state body for investigating and documenting Nazi and communist-era crimes, Nawrocki has sought to distance himself from the previous Law & Justice administration by criticizing some of its pandemic-era restrictions. He briefly met Trump in the Oval Office this month.

Nawrocki strongly differs from his opponent on the issue of same-sex marriage and abortion, which he rejects, and gives voice to rising anti-Ukrainian sentiment in some sections of Polish society.

Like Tusk, he hails from Gdansk, the port city on the Baltic coast that gave birth to Solidarity, the independent trade union that played a crucial role in the collapse of communism in Poland.

Nawrocki’s campaign has been dogged in recent days by allegations that in his youth he took part in arranged fights between soccer hooligans. His campaign manager, Pawel Szefernaker, said the candidate “wasn’t ashamed of this episode in his life.”

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(With assistance from Wojciech Moskwa.)