Final vote count gives conservative candidate 50.89 percent, while his liberal rival receives 49.11 percent.
Poland’s electoral commission has declared nationalist Karol Nawrocki the winner of the country’s presidential election.
With all votes counted, the commission said on Monday that Nawrocki, a staunch conservative backed by the opposition, had won 50.89 percent of votes in a tight run-off race against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who took 49.11 percent.
The result will complicate the centrist government’s rule in the increasingly prominent European Union state, given Nawrocki’s pledge to use the presidential veto to block Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s reforms, and be welcomed by right-wing forces in Europe and the United States.
Nawrocki, 42, a historian and amateur boxer who ran a national remembrance institute, campaigned on populist promises to ensure economic and social policies favour Poles over other nationalities, including refugees from neighbouring Ukraine.
An early exit poll released on Sunday evening had suggested Trzaskowski was headed to victory before updated polling began to reverse the picture a couple of hours later.
Nawrocki will succeed Andrzej Duda, also aligned with the nationalist conservative Law & Justice (PiS) whose second and final term ends on August 6.
Duda has been holding up the coalition government’s efforts to reverse changes politicising the judicial system that were introduced by PiS during its 2015-2023 term in office, which plunged Poland into a fight with the EU over the rule of law.
Tusk has also struggled to meet other electoral promises, such as the implementation of reforms to ease access to abortion and improve LGBTQ rights.
These unfulfilled promises could make it more difficult for Tusk to continue his term until the next parliamentary election scheduled for late 2027, according to some analysts.
Trump boost
Nawrocki’s victory was helped by strong support from the MAGA movement in the US.
President Donald Trump welcomed the Polish eurosceptic to the White House, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem travelled to Poland last week to back him.
The US has about 10,000 troops stationed in Poland and Noem suggested that military ties could deepen with Nawrocki as president.
Nawrocki’s supporters claim that he will restore “normality” as Trump has done, and MAGA flags have often appeared at Nawrocki’s rallies during the campaign.
Nawrocki has also echoed some of Trump’s language on Ukraine, despite staunch opposition to Russia on Poland’s left and right.
While the president-in-waiting has promised to maintain the country’s support for Ukraine, he has been critical of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of taking advantage of allies.
He has also tapped into growing antagonism towards the million or so Ukrainian refugees in Poland, accusing them of taking advantage of Polish generosity, and vowing to prioritise Poles for social services such as health care and schooling.
Right-wing forces in Europe, who were disappointed by the defeat of nationalist George Simion in Romania’s presidential election last month, have been quick to start celebrating Nawrocki’s win.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on his Facebook page that the result brings a “fresh victory for (European) patriots”.
