Poland: neck-and-neck race in presidential election
The Liberal candidate Rafał Trzaskowski has won the first round of the presidential election in Poland with 31.4 percent of the vote, giving him a narrow lead against right-wing conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki (29.5 percent). The two will now face each other in the run-off on 1 June. The right-wing populist Sławomir Mentzen came third with 14.8 percent, followed by far-right candidate Grzegorz Braun with 6.3 percent.
Another PiS head of state would cripple the country
Gazeta Wyborcza pins its hopes on liberal candidate Trzaskowski:
“A victory for Karol Nawrocki would mean further years of conflict with the current governing coalition and vetoes on many bills that need to be passed in parliament. After ten disastrous years with Andrzej Duda, another PiS president would continue to wage an ideological war with the democratic camp on issues such as women's rights, civil partnerships and cooperation within the European Union. And the head of state has a powerful weapon at his disposal: the veto.”
The cost of pandering to the far right
Rzeczpospolita criticises the established candidates for flirting with right-wing positions in their campaigns:
“Both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki made the mistake of trying to curry favour with far-right voters. This is particularly evident in the case of Trzaskowski, who gained nothing with his scaremongering about migration (suspension of the right to asylum), war and immigration from Ukraine. Instead, he brought this xenophobic agenda into the mainstream. As it turned out, Sławomir Mentzen and Grzegorz Braun benefited from this. Together, they received a fifth of the vote. This is a stunning success for the far right and a wake-up call for Polish democracy.”