Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Warsaw to show support for the opposing candidates in next weekend’s tightly contested Polish presidential run-off, which the government views as crucial to its efforts for pro-European democratic reform.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk hopes to galvanise support for his candidate, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, to replace outgoing Andrzej Duda, a nationalist who has vetoed many of Tusk’s efforts to reform the judiciary.
“All of Poland is looking at us. All of Europe is looking at us. The whole world is looking at us,” Trzaskowski told supporters who waved Polish and European Union flags on Sunday.
Tusk swept to power in 2023 with a broad alliance of leftist and centrist parties on a promise to undo changes made by the nationalist Law and Justice government that the EU said had undermined democracy and women’s and minority rights.
Trzaskowski beat nationalist opponent Karol Nawrocki by 2 percentage points in the first round of the election on May 18 but is struggling to sustain his lead, according to opinion polls.
The two candidates are locked in a tight contest before the June 1 run-off with the latest polls projecting a tie of 47 percent of the vote each.
Nawrocki’s voters – some wearing hats with the words “Poland is the most important,” a nod to United States President Donald Trump’s America First policies – gathered in a different part of the capital to show support for his drive to align Poland more closely with Trump and the region’s populists.
“I am the voice of all those whose cries do not reach Donald Tusk today. The voice of all those who do not want Polish schools to be places of ideology, our Polish agriculture to be destroyed or our freedom taken away,” Nawrocki told the crowd.
Some of his supporters carried banners with slogans such as “Stop Migration Pact” and “This is Poland” or displayed images of Trump.
“He is the best candidate, the most patriotic, one who can guarantee that Poland is independent and sovereign,” Jan Sulanowski, 42, said.
An estimated 50,000 people attended the gathering of Nawrocki’s supporters while about 140,000 people participated in the march supporting Trzaskowski, the Polish Press Agency reported, citing unofficial preliminary estimates from city authorities.
Jakub Kaszycki, 21, joined the pro-Trzaskowski march, saying it could determine Poland’s future direction. “I very much favour … the West’s way to Europe, not to Russia,” he said.
At Trzaskowski’s march, newly elected Romanian President Nicusor Dan pledged to work closely with Tusk and Trzaskowski “to ensure Poland and the European Union remain strong”.
Dan’s unexpected victory in a vote on May 18 over a hard-right Trump supporter was greeted with relief in Brussels and other parts of Europe because many were concerned that his rival George Simion would have complicated EU efforts to tackle Russia’s war in Ukraine.
