The Poles voted on Sunday in a presidential election that will decide whether Warsaw follows the pro -European path established by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, or changes in the direction of the nationalist admirers of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Trump’s return to power has energized Eurosceptics in Europe, and Sunday’s ballot will be the greatest proof of Tusk’s pro -European vision since he came to power in 2023, overthrowing the party of the law and nationalist justice (PIS).
The election faces the mayor of Warsovia, Rafal Trzawski, of Tusk’s civic coalition, against the conservative historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by Pis.
Trzawski has been chosen as the favorite, who probably opposes Nawrocki in a runoff, which is due on June 1, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent. The vote ends Sunday at 9 pm (12 am, standard Pakistan time), with expected departure surveys shortly after and the results dripped during the night and Monday.
The extreme right candidate Slawomir Mentzen of the Confederation Party, the president of the Parliament Szymon Holownia of the center-right of Poland 2050 and Magdalena Biejat on the left also compete.
State News Agency PORRIDGE He informed that Nawocki encouraged all Poles to participate in the elections after voting in Gdansk, saying that it was important because “we are shaping our future.”
Trzawski said that “every choice is a celebration of democracy” after voting in Warsaw. The electoral commission said the vote advanced calmly.
Czeslaw Wegorek, a 64 -year -old messenger who voted in the port city of Gdansk, said he wanted someone to focus on the future of the population, “no more disputes.”
Warsaw resident, Barbara Zurawska, said that for her, housing for young people was a key issue.
“Now it is really difficult for young people. They live with their parents for a long time, and it is difficult to receive loans and pay them,” he said.
Europe under pressure
The Voting of First Polish Round takes place on the same day as a second -round presidential runoff in Romania, where George Simion, a nationalist who campaigns to “make Romania great again,” he faces the centrist Bucharest to Mayor Nicusor Dan.
A victory for two Eurosceptic candidates would send shock waves through the European Union as the block fights with the twin challenges of Russia’s invasion of the neighbor of eastern Poland, Ukraine and Trump’s tariffs.
The Polish president has limited executive powers, but he can veto the legislation. That has allowed the outgoing president Andrzej Doubt, an ally of PIS, hinders Tusk’s efforts to undo the judicial changes implemented under Pis, what Tusk says that democracy hinders.
Trzawski has pledged to consolidate the role of Poland as an important player in the heart of the formulation of European policies and work with the government to reverse the judicial changes of PIS.
Nawrocki’s campaign was shaken by the accusations, which he denies, who cheated an old man to sell a floor in exchange for a promise of attention he did not provide. But Trump showed support when he met with Nawrocki in the White House.
Nawrocki presents the choice as an opportunity to prevent Tusk from reaching power without control and retreated against the liberal values represented by Trzawski, who as mayor of Warsaw sponsored LGBT marches and demolished Christian crossings of public buildings.
Unlike other Eurosceptics in Central Europe, Nawrocki supports military aid to help Ukraine defend Russia. However, he has taken advantage of the anti-Ukrainian feeling among some poles tired of an influx of refugees from his neighbor.
He said that Polish citizens should have priority in public services and criticized kyiv’s attitude for the exhumations of the remains of the Poles killed by the Ukrainian nationalists during World War II.
