Adam Easton
BBC Warsaw correspondent
Wojtek radwanski/afp
Among the 13 candidates are two frontlines: Rafal Torzaskovsky (R) and Karol Nowrocky.
When the Poles vote for the new president on Sunday, they are expected to set a second round-off between Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Truzaskovsky and national conservative historian Karol Nowrocky.
If the polls are correct, it means a June 1 contest between candidates supported by two political parties that have dominated Polish politics for the past 20 years.
Currently the top runner, Trzaskowski is the assistant leader of Prime Minister Donald Tass’s Centre Light Civic Platform (PO).
Nawrocki, who currently votes while he is 4%-6% behind, is supported by the Law and Justice (PIS) opposition parties who lost power 18 months ago.
What happens in this election is important as the Polish president has the power to reject government bills.
Tusk’s coalition does not have enough parliamentary majority to overturn the veto power that former PIS member and ally President Andrzej Duda has used several times.
That barrier could fall as Duda cannot do it again after being imposed two consecutive five-year terms.
Observers outside Poland portrayed Task elections in late 2023 as saving liberal democracy after eight years of right-wing authoritarian populism by a Piss-led government.
Critics have widely accused public media of turning crude propaganda for the conservative Catholic worldview, politicizing civil servants and the judiciary, and punishing judges who deliberately opposed reform.
However, Tusk’s coalition government is working on back-control of public media using questionable legal methods.
Tusk failed to realize many of his campaign promises, including suspending the right of immigrants arriving at the border with Belarus to apply for asylum and liberalizing the country’s strict abortion laws.
“This is not a victory for liberal values. It is a foolish, authoritarian right-wing populism and hypocritical, and in my eyes a morally corrupt liberal populism choice,” Konstanty Gebert, columnist for Kultura Liberalna, told the BBC.
The presidential election was able to win in the first round of Sunday with more than 50% of the vote, but the latest poll suggests it will be decided on June 1st.
Miloslo Kazunowski, a member of the Green Party belonging to the broader civil union of the task, votes for Truzaskovski despite some reservations.
He told the BBC:
In one of the presidential debates, Piss-supporting candidate Nau Rocky, proudly waving the mini-Polish flag, attempts to embarrass Truzaskovsky by handing him a small rainbow flag.
In the past, the Mayor of Warsaw has been a supporter of the voices of LGBTQ+ rights and has attended the capital’s equal march.
Trzaskowski raised the flag and laid it on the floor, and said, “I am not ashamed of it, I will be happy to take it from you.”
Kaznowski said: “While migration, LGBT+, women’s rights and the environment have fallen off the agenda, we still risk returning to an authoritarian government aimed at Eastern values.”
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Donald Task was unable to realize many of the reforms he promised before becoming prime minister.
Tusk has promised a legal abortion for a Polish woman until the 12th week of pregnancy, but he has not fulfilled his promise.
He presides a wide coalition built around his own central group, including smaller leftists and conservative parties.
Disagreements within the coalition regarding the legalization of abortion and same-sex partnerships have stalled even before President Duda had the opportunity to reject them.
Following the Russian wars in neighbouring Ukraine, national security controls political discourse.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the “overwhelming” security PI, including strict immigration policies, is key to winning the 2023 election.
This year, Poland plans to spend 4.7% of its GDP on defense, a larger percentage than other NATO members.
Tusk wants to provide all adult men with the opportunity to receive military training. Trzaskowski was filmed using basic drills during the campaign.
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Karol Nawrocki has so far been little undermined by the claims surrounding the purchase of flats from healthy pensioners
The rigorous message from the liberal mayor on security and transition has led the PI to accuse him of saying something to win the vote.
This is a view shared by civil servant Wojciech Karlik, who is scheduled to vote for Nawrocki, a PIS-backed candidate.
“Nawrocki will fight for Poland’s interests against the EU. He can be trusted, unlike Trzaskowski, who continues to change his mind about issues like migration,” he said.
Nawrocki recently fired a shot on accusations that he denies he has bought the council at a 90% discount on market prices at a 90% discount from seniors in 90% health conditions in exchange for a promise of support and care.
With the team’s own approval, Now Rocky was surprised when he lost contact with pensioners last December. Local media reported that they lived in a nursing home paid by taxpayers for six months at that stage.
Opinion polls suggest accusations that the past opportunities for Now Rocky have not been undermined.
However, the numbers show that none of the 13 candidates have enough votes to avoid a spill between the two frontrunners.
Leading by 75-year-old Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Tusk’s PO, PIS is two parties that have dominated Polish politics for the past 20 years, with some voters getting tired of replicating.
In March, Slawomir Mentzen, a 38-year-old far-right libertarian candidate and brewing entrepreneur.
But even in the case of rape, his support has declined since interviews calling for the introduction of tuition fees for students and banning abortions.
Psychotherapist Alexandra Janushewitz told the BBC:
“I haven’t decided yet [on who to vote for]But I’m going to throw it afterwards. ”
Human rights lawyer Margolzata Shreka agrees that there is fatigue in both the failure to implement the two-tier government and the fan government.
“Polish politics looks like it’s going to MacDonald’s,” she told the BBC. “You go hoping for something else and leave with a burger and fries.
“My hope is for a president who can freeze the polarization of the country, and we can start talking to each other again.”
