Pro-EU mayor, nationalist historian set for Polish presidential runoff
WARSAW
TOPSHOT - Rafal Trzaskowski, Presidential candidate, Warsaw's mayor and member of Poland's ruling Civic Coalition party, waves the Polish flag as he speaks to supporters after first exit polls following Presidential elections are announced in Sandomierz, on May 18, 2025
Pro-EU Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is set to face nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki in Poland's presidential runoff on June 1, an exit poll showed after the first round, as the far-right made record advances.
An overall victory for Trzaskowski would be a boost for the centrist government led by former European Council chief Donald Tusk, which has been at loggerheads with the current nationalist president.
Ever since Tusk's coalition came to power in 2023, key government initiatives have been blocked by vetoes from nationalist President Andrzej Duda of the Law and Justice party (PiS), who is not eligible to run again.
A victory for Nawrocki, who is backed by the PiS party, would likely extend the political deadlock and analysts predict that fresh parliamentary elections may have to be called.
Trzaskowski was expected to get 31.2 percent of the vote and Nawrocki 29.7 percent in May 18's first round, according to an Ipsos poll based on 90 percent of the votes.
"This result shows... how determined we have to be, how much work lies ahead of us," Trzaskowski, 53, told supporters in the southeastern town of Sandomierz.
Nawrocki, 42, struck a defiant tone: "We must win these elections to prevent one political camp's monopoly of power," he said.
Two far-right candidates, Euroskeptic multi-millionaire entrepreneur Slawomir Mentzen and ultra-nationalist MEP Grzegorz Braun, tipped to receive more than 20 percent between the two of them.
"This is the greatest success in the history of our political camp," Mentzen said.
