Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge.
During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS).
The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their respective parties, which have dominated Polish politics since 2005.
Photo: Reuters
Nawrocki — a conservative historian, who it was revealed this week had been involved in organized fights between groups of soccer hooligans in his youth — characterized the election as a referendum on an unpopular coalition government led by Tusk, repeatedly dismissing his rival as “Tusk’s deputy.”
The government came to power in late 2023, promising to undo illiberal reforms by their right-wing predecessors and liberalize laws on abortion and LGBTQ rights, but has made little progress, fearing a veto from outgoing conservative Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The issue has loomed over the presidential election, turning the ballot into a question of whether voters want to carry through with the political overhaul or prefer an opposition president to keep the government in check — even at the cost of political paralysis.
Trzaskowski challenged Nawrocki’s attempts to paint himself as an independent candidate despite being supported by PiS, which ruled Poland between 2015 and 2023.
“You say you’re not from PiS, but people from PiS pay for your campaign, organize it and lead it ... There is an English saying: if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck,” he said.
During tense exchanges on Friday night, both candidates agreed on the need to support Ukraine militarily in its fight against Russia.
However, they clashed over other elements of the relationship, including Ukraine’s future NATO membership and the controversy over the import of cheaper agricultural goods, which has led to anti-Ukrainian protests by Polish farmers.
Courting the far-right voters of two candidates who came third and fourth, Nawrocki already said this week that he would block Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
On Friday, he repeated his criticism of the farming arrangements.
“As a president, I will do everything to really support [Ukraine] militarily,” but would not let Poland become a secondary market for Ukrainian goods, he said.
Trzaskowski, a former EU lawmaker and former secretary of state in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attacked him for “speaking the language that favors [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” citing his rival’s criticism of EU plans to bolster member states’ militaries.
“We need to be tough with Ukrainians, protect Polish interests ... but help Ukraine, because Putin has to break all his teeth in Ukraine and not attack anyone else,” Trzaskowski said.
With just a week to go until the vote, the candidates remained virtually level, with individual polls showing narrow leads both ways within the margin of error.
Experts have said that voter mobilization — with turnout already at a record high in the first round — could play a decisive role in deciding the outcome.
Today, both candidates are to lead rival marches across Warsaw, symbolically starting simultaneously on parallel streets, but going in opposite directions.
The Polish presidential election run-off is to be held on June 1.
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