The victory of conservative Karol Nawrocki’s victory in Poland’s weekend presidential runoff is likely to cause further division and political instability between the centrist government and the new president, according to analysts and citizens alike.
Nawrocki, who was backed by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party at home and endorsed by US President Donald Trump, won 50.89% of votes in Sunday's race against Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who received 49.11%, according to election commission data published on Monday.
The 42-year-old nationalist has pledged to hinder Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist, pro-EU government until its term ends in late 2027, just as the outgoing President, Andrzej Duda, has done during his presidency. Nawrocki is set to take office on 6 August.
Tusk announced on Monday that he will call for a parliamentary vote of confidence in his coalition government.
While his government exists separately from the presidency, the president holds power to veto laws, and Nawrocki’s victory will make it extremely difficult for Tusk to press his pro-European agenda and push through key promises including a civil union law for same-sex couples and a less restrictive abortion law. Nawrocki opposes such measures.
Euronews spoke to several residents of Warsaw about whether relations between Tusk's government and the new president-elect would improve compared to the current reality.
"There is no agreement between the government and the president. There are two different worlds," one resident of Warsaw told Euronews.
Another person said: "They are on opposite sides and don’t agree. But Nawrocki is a big unknown."
However, another individual said: "I hope, however, that wisdom will win out and somehow these relations will settle down. And this nation will not be as divided as it is at the moment."
'Deeply divided'
Election data results show that he difference between Nawrocki and Trzaskowski was fewer than 370,000 votes, or 1.78 percentage points — the smallest gap in a presidential run-off since 1989.
"Poland remains a deeply divided country," said Jacek Kucharczyk, the president of the Polish Institute of Public Affairs.
"Although the electoral turnout was highest ever in history of presidential elections, Nawrocki’s margin of victory is very small, which means that half of Poland will be cheering his presidency, whereas half of Poland, the other half, remains deeply worried or even disturbed," he added.
Nawrocki, a conservative historian and amateur boxer with no prior political experience, had presented the election as a referendum on Tusk's 18-month-old government. In his first public comments since his victory was announced, Nawrocki thanked those who voted for him and said he would work for the causes that are important to them
"We want to live in a safe country with a strong economy, one that cares for the most vulnerable. A country that matters in international, European, and transatlantic relations. A country that cherishes its centuries-old traditions and respects its history," he wrote on social media.
Trzaskowski conceded defeat and congratulated Nawrocki. "I fought for us to build a strong, safe, honest, and empathetic Poland together," he wrote on social media.
Speaking on Monday, President Duda said he hoped the election result would be "an unambiguous signal" to Tusk and the government that the majority of Poles expect to see the "kind of policy ... that Nawrocki proposes and preached during his campaign".
Following the election result, Nawrocki has received congraulations from leaders including Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
