Poland’s 2025 Election: A Nation Divided

In Poland’s 2025 presidential election, conservative historian and former boxer Karol Nawrocki narrowly defeated liberal Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, securing 50.89% of the vote in the runoff. Nawrocki, backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS) and endorsed by Donald Trump, campaigned on nationalist, anti-German and Eurosceptic themes. His victory poses serious challenges for Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition, as Nawrocki is expected to veto key reform projects making and undermining the political authority and popular appeal of the governing coalition moving towards the 2027 elections. The outcome of the presidential context underlines Poland’s political polarization and the growing influence of far-right figures like Sławomir Mentzen, who, despite being eliminated in the first round, played a significant role in shaping the political discourse and challenging traditional democratic norms.

See also the commentary of Oliver Schmidtke in the article La Presse https://www.lapresse.ca/international/europe/2025-06-01/radioscopie/mentzen-faiseur-de-roi.php