Europe’s Liberal elites woke up to a shock on Monday morning as Poland’s Conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki defeated his left-wing rival in a nail-biting finish.
“Nawrocki won 50.9% percent of the votes – ahead of Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski on 49.1% percent,” the BBC reported.
The outcome of the presidential election was so tight that the pro-EU candidate Trzaskowski declared himself victorious when early projections came in on Sunday night. “Trzaskowski had claimed victory after the first exit poll, while Nawrocki cautioned that the results were too close to call,” the broadcaster added.
Nawrocki, a candidate of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party, poses a serious threat to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition government, which won the 2023 parliamentary election.
Nawrocki is expected to put a damper on Prime Minister Tusk’s pro-EU woke agenda. The rival candidate, “Trzaskowski, 53, had promised to ease abortion restrictions, introduce civil partnerships for LGBT+ couples and promote constructive ties with European partners,” Sky News (UK) noted. Nawrocki, instead, has aligned “himself with US conservatives, including Donald Trump, and showing scepticism towards the EU,” the TV channel added.
Reuters reported the election outcome:
Nationalist opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki narrowly won Poland’s presidential election, results showed on Monday, delivering a major blow to the centrist government’s efforts to cement Warsaw’s pro-European orientation.In a victory for European conservatives inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump, Nawrocki secured 50.89% of the vote, election commission data showed, an outcome that presages more political gridlock as he is likely to use his presidential veto to thwart Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s liberal policy agenda.Tusk’s government has been seeking to reverse judicial reforms made by the previous nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, but current President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, has blocked its efforts – a pattern Nawrocki is likely to continue.Nawrocki’s rival, Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal Warsaw mayor who was standing for Tusk’s ruling Civic Coalition (KO), got 49.11%, the data showed. Both candidates had declared victory immediately after the publication of an exit poll late on Sunday that showed the result would be very close.
The Polish election result is widely seen as a setback for the European Union and Europe’s left-wing establishment. “While Poland’s commitment to NATO is unlikely to change under Nawrocki’s presidency, there are concerns that coordination with the EU could suffer,” Poland’s public broadcaster TVP reported. “Nawrocki has voiced scepticism toward deeper EU integration, joint debt instruments and the Green Deal climate agenda.”
The mainstream European media complained that the smear campaign they peddled against the conservative Polish candidate did not dampen his support among the voters. “Right-wing Poland is back,” Germany’s Die Tageszeitung daily complained. “For the third consecutive time, Polish voters supported a right-wing populist. The dubious reputation of historian Karol Nawrocki didn’t deter them.”
“The winner of the Polish presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, stands for unconstrained right-wing populism,” German newspaper Die Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote in anguish. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
“The narrow victory of right-wing nationalist Karol Nawrocki does not bode well for Poland,” the widely-read German weekly Die Zeit claimed. Warsaw’s “pro-European government is paralyzed – and right-wing radicals are gaining momentum.”
French newspaper Le Monde introduced the news of the Polish leader with the headline: “Karol Nawrocki, from hooliganism to the presidency of Poland.” Poland’s president-elect was a “[b]luffer, combative, and sometimes disturbing,” according to the leading French daily.
Nawrocki is expected to promote Christian values and push back against wokism, media fears. Leftist candidate “Trzaskowski, a pro-EU progressive, backed abortion law liberalisation and civil partnerships for LGBTQ+ couples,” British newspaper The Guardian reported. “Nawrocki, who espouses conservative Catholic values, would probably veto any government attempt to implement such moves.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY