Polish President Andrzej Duda has surprised many by speaking at the campaign rally for the opposition Conservatives’ (PiS) candidate Karol Nawrocki in the city of Łódz, raising eyebrows after he had previously said he would not be supporting any presidential hopeful.
Speaking on April 27, Duda warned that the present centre-left government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk maybe planning to annul the election should its candidate lose the elections in May and June.
The president defended the PiS government’s (2015-2023) record in office, saying it had delivered the promises that he had made to Polish voters during the 2015 election.
“I recently spoke at a Solidarity trades union conference and had to reach for my notes to list all the achievements of the PiS government, all the benefits we introduced that made life better for people,” he said.
He then attacked the Tusk government for its time in office since December 2023.
“Look at what is happening in today’s Poland. Public media being taken over by force. Removal by force of public prosecutors. Lawyers are laughing at the illegality of it all but in essence it is tragic for our country,” argued Duda.
Finally, he warned that the Tusk government was casting a shadow of doubt over the validity of the electoral process because of its refusal to recognise the Supreme Court’s Supervisory Chamber, the body responsible for certifying the election result. He also cited the government’s decision to ignore the court’s verdict about PiS receiving its State subsidies.
“The fact that there is such uncertainty over the Supreme Court means those in power may try to annul the election if their candidate loses.
“This election is one the legal validity of which is under threat because of the subterfuge of the other side. This is why we need a huge turnout and a clear victory at the ballot box to stop any obstruction of justice,” Duda said.
In 2024, the State Electoral Commission, now controlled by Tusk’s parliamentary majority, ruled that the PiS should be denied State funding for alleged election spending irregularities. PiS successfully challenged this decision in the Supreme Court
The government has refused to make the payment on the grounds that it does not recognise the Supervisory chamber because its members were appointed during the lifetime of the last PiS government on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (KRS). The current administration said it believed that body was illegitimately constituted because it was elected by parliament and not the judges.
Despite the fact that the Polish Constitution does not specify the method of election of the KRS and gives the president the exclusive power of appointing judges, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the judges elected on recommendation of the KRS were not independent and that relevant judicial bodies were not properly constituted courts of law.
Poland’s presidential election will take place on May 18, with a second round between the top two candidates scheduled for June 1.
According to polling averages compiled by the website eWybory, the gap in April between the PiS’s Nawrocki and frontrunner Rafał Trzaskowski Tusk’s Civic Coalition has tightened from 14 to 4 per cent.
Duda’s decision to give full backing to Nawrocki was seen as a signal that he wanted to remain active in Polish politics after his second and final term as president in August. That tied in with reports of him putting out feelers for being a future prime minister in a right-wing government.
