Poland elects Eurosceptic populist in close ballot

Allow me to present Karol Nawrocki, a 42-year-old historian who until last year was the head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, a state research institute for the study of crimes against the Polish people during the Nazi and Soviet occupations. Before that, he was at the head of the Polish WWII museum in Gdansk and earlier still, he was a sports commentator, a violent fan of the local soccer team and a bouncer in a holiday resort of questionable reputation.

In November 2024, Nawrocki became Poland's national conservative Law and Justice (PiS) Party's surprise candidate for president and on Monday, according to the results of the second round of presidential elections, he will soon be sworn in as the country's new president.

He beat his liberal opponent, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski by less than two percentage points. Trzaskowski, the popular liberal candidate for the Civic Platform Party who speaks five languages, ran an unrelenting patriotic campaign against his right-wing nationalist opponent, whose past was marred by near-criminal scandals, but lost.

Nawrocki's win marks a shift toward extreme nationalistic populism in Poland, after 18 months under the democratic-liberal government of Donald Tusk, who had served as president of the European Union.

During the presidential campaign, Polish far-right's strong man and Nawrocki's benefactor Jarosław Kaczyński spoke in hate-filled speeches in the mass rallies and public appearances about the "rule of the elites and the courts," who posed "danger to Poland's sovereignty and independence and were poisoning the proud people of Poland with foreign values."

This nonsense fell on willing ears, especially in the eastern provinces, where one in four voters, between the ages of 18 and 29, supported extreme nationalistic parties, either spouting anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion and antisemitic views quietly or out in public. All those had likely voted for Nawrocki in the general ballot for president.

Since shaking off communism in 1989, Poland has been the poster child for democracy and economics. Its economy enjoyed an annual growth of 4 to 4.5%, quickly closing the gap with other European nations. Since joining the EU in 2005, Poland has become one of the leading nations in Eastern Europe and on the entire continent, but all those achievements could now be lost.

As President and under the influence of Kaczyński, Nawrocki will do all in his power to subvert the efforts of the Tusk government and its policies. He will use his authority to block legislation and to move Poland away from the EU and align with the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who had received him in the White House.

When Nawrocki's Law and Justice was in power, it passed law calling for up to three years in prison or a fine for accusing the Polish state or people of involvement or responsibility for the Nazi occupation during World War II. The criminal provisions were removed again later that year, after international protests, including from Israel.