“The next two weeks will determine the future of Poland,” Polish prime minister Donald Tusk warned voters after a disappointing showing by pro-government candidates in the first round of the country’s presidential election.
Poland will face “conflict and chaos” if voters do not elect his party’s candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, Tusk added on May 19.
Trzaskowski, the candidate of Tusk’s Civic Coalition, won 31.4 per cent of the May 18 first-round vote.
This was only two points ahead of the Conservative (PiS) candidate Karol Nawrocki’s 29.5 per cent.
However, two more right-wing candidates polled strongly as well.
Sławomir Mentzen of the Confederation party received 14.8 per cent of the vote, and nationalist Grzegorz Braun 6.3 per cent.
Taken together, candidates from the political right managed to secure over 50 per cent of the vote.
Candidates who supported Tusk’s coalition government collectively won over 40 per cent.
Tusk thanked voters for taking part in the first round of Poland’s presidential election, calling on them to make a decisive choice for his candidate in the upcoming June 1 runoff.
“Do you support paralysis and chaos in Poland, or progress and security?” Tusk asked.
“Do you want infighting at the top while war rages beyond our borders, or effective leadership and national strength?” he said, alluding to Poland’s neighbour, war-torn Ukraine.
“Do you prefer impunity and corruption, or justice and order?”, he added, referencing his claims his party is restoring the rule of law and combating corruption.
Tusk concluded “the only honest answer is Rafał Trzaskowski,” who already secured endorsements from the two other pro-government candidates who did not make it past the May 18 first round of the election.
In the next two weeks, commentators expect Tusk and his centre-left coalition will attempt to frame the choice as between integration with the EU and progress on the rights of women and minorities on the one hand, and pro-Trump conservative nationalism on the other.
The PiS will, on the other hand, present voters’ choice as between giving Tusk total power within the state while seceding more national sovereignty to Brussels, versus their own path of national sovereignty, a close alliance with the US, and returning to the conservative policies of the previous PiS administration.
The winner of the June 1 runoff will serve a five-year term as head of state. The president’s powers include overseeing foreign and defence policy, making judicial appointments, and holding a veto power over legislation.
But the president is not able to dissolve parliament or remove the prime minister. The president may only dissolve parliament if it fails to pass the budget.
The next president will come into office in August, when the current PiS-aligned incumbent Andrzej Duda ends his second and final term in the post.
