Karol Nawrocki, a right-wing historian, was elected Poland's new president on Monday.
Mr Nawrocki achieved a narrow victory, securing 50.9 per cent of the votes compared with Rafal Trzaskowski, Warsaw's liberal mayor, who had the remaining 49.1 per cent.
“We’ve won!” Poland’s new president announced to a cheering crowd. “This is truly a special moment in Poland’s history. I am convinced that it will allow us to move forward and focus on the future.”
But who is Mr Nawrocki and what does his election mean for Poland and beyond?
Who is Karol Nawrocki?
Poland’s new president Karol Nawrocki is a father of three, historian, amateur boxer, and a new face in politics. The 42-year-old frequently posts on social media about his interests and values, which include sports and the Catholic faith.
He was largely unknown in Poland until he was selected by PiS, the right-wing opposition party, to be their unofficial candidate, framing him as someone who would represent ordinary Polish people.
A supporter of President Donald Trump, Mr Nawrocki flew to Washington to meet him, posting a photo of himself with the US president with their thumbs up on Instagram.
The Polish president also campaigned on a promise to enact economic and social policies that favour Poles over other nationalities, including refugees.
He won the election despite scrutiny around his past, such as questions about his acquisition of a flat from a pensioner and an admission that he participated in fights between football hooligans when he was younger.
What are his policies?
Mr Nawrocki is an advocate for traditional Catholicism and family values. It’s expected that he’ll block any attempt by the government to legalise abortion. Poland’s abortion law is one of the strictest in Europe.
When it comes to international relations, Mr Nawrocki supports Polish sovereignty within the EU. He believes that Poland shouldn’t relinquish any more power to Brussels, and he’s not in favour of the EU’s climate and migration policies.
What does it mean for the EU?
The current Polish government “is very keen on locating Poland in what you might call the ‘European Main Street,’” Professor Aleks Szczerbiak, professor of politics at the University of Sussex, told The Standard. This means building close relations with the EU political establishment and the major EU powers like Germany and France.
But Mr Nawrocki “disagrees that that's the best way of promoting Poland's interest,” Szczerbiak says. He anticipates that Mr Nawrocki will encourage Poland to push against this and “build its own stream”.
“He’ll be a Eurosceptic counterweight to a government that wants deeper integration and to build closer relations with the main EU powers,” he added.
What does it mean for Russia?
Mr Nawrocki plans to continue supporting Ukraine, but with certain expectations. For instance, he doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.
“He wants to adopt a more transactional approach to relations with Ukraine,” Szczerbiak told The Standard, encouraging Poland to “leverage the fact that Ukraine benefits from Poland providing military humanitarian aid, taking in over a million Ukrainian refugees”.
At the same time, Szczerbiak argues that Mr Nawrocki’s stricter stance on Ukraine does not mean he’s sympathetic to Russia. “It's difficult to paint him as a Russophile, because he's not.”
What power does he actually have?
There is both a president and a prime minister in Poland. The president is sometimes regarded as a ceremonial role, since the parliament holds most of the power. However, the president can veto legislation.
As well as this, even if the majority of the president’s power is symbolic, it still holds bearing on international politics. “Athough formally he doesn't have any power, in foreign policy terms, symbolically - because of the big mandate that he has - he can insert himself in and try and influence those debates,” Szczerbiak said.
Mr Nawrocki is likely to use this power of veto to block Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-EU programme, alongside other democratic political reforms.
The current president, Andrzej Duda, has exerted these powers to stop Prime Minister Tusk pursuing key campaign promises, such as liberalising Poland’s strict abortion law.
