Polish presidential election: will the liberal camp resist the PiS conservatives?
Despite a rather lackluster campaign, the Polish press is highlighting the major stakes of the presidential election, the first round of which will be held this Sunday, May 18: ending the cohabitation between the national conservative camp in the presidency and the pro-European government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk – or extending it.
"One hundred and twenty-two days, thirteen candidates, several hundred meetings throughout Poland," summarizes the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza , in the run-up to the first round of the presidential election on May 18 in Poland, the second round of which, which seems inevitable, is set for June 1 .
These figures reveal a long campaign, which actually began at the end of November 2024, with the nomination of the two main candidates. Rafal Trzaskowski, the current liberal mayor of Warsaw, supported by the ruling Civic Coalition (KO), and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian little known to the general public and a "citizen candidate," pushed by the national-conservative PiS (Law and Justice, in power from 2015 to 2023).
This relatively dull electoral marathon, spiced up at the very end by a scandal surrounding an apartment that Karol Nawrocki acquired under dubious conditions, almost makes us forget the major issue at stake: "stop or continue" cohabitation. This leads sociologist Andrzej Rychard, quoted by the progressive weekly Polityka , to say : "This election will be extremely important for Poland; I would compare its importance to those of 1989 and 2023."
Until August 6, the national camp continues
Courrier International
