Heavily outspent by his opponent, vigorously opposed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and faced with highly personal charges including that of setting up clients with prostitutes while a hotel security guard, MAGA-style candidate Karol Nawrocki was elected president of Poland on Sunday.
In a record turnout (71%), Polish voters narrowly (51% to 49%) chose historian Nawrocki, 42, in a run-off with “establishment” candidate and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.
The victory of Eurosceptic Nawrocki clearly sent shock waves through the European Union, whose leaders made clear they preferred the pro-EU Trzaskowski. In contrast, Nawrocki strongly embraced Donald Trump — meeting the U.S. president at the White House earlier this year and telling reporters Trump said to him: “You will win.”
Clearly, Nawrocki’s preference for stronger ties with Trump and the U.S. as opposed to dependence on the EU resonated with enough voters to make a difference.
“Poles have two major fears: first, their sovereignty being taken away by Russia, and secondly being economically exploited by Germany [the largest economic power in the EU],” Veronika Banski, a Polish student at American University, told Newsmax. “That is why when any politician leans more towards the EU, they are being increasingly suspected, with some charging such politicians of wanting to sell Poland.”
Cultural issues such as abortion also helped put Nawrocki over the top in a knife-edge contest. As mayor of Warsaw, Trzaskowski, 53, took decidedly left-of-center stands on cultural issues such as banning the display of religious symbols (including those on the desks of city employees), marching in a Pride Parade, and supporting Tusk’s proposal to liberalize Poland’s abortion laws.
In a country that is 71% Catholic and more than a third of them attend weekly Mass, Nawrocki clearly picked up the votes of two fellow pro-life candidates in the initial balloting two weeks ago and swept most of the rural villages outside urban Warsaw.
Although the prime minister and parliament have much more power than the president of Poland, a President Nawrocki will nonetheless be able to veto any bills they pass, appoint judges, and help craft foreign policy.
As to Nawrocki’s impact on the EU, Anna Willescz of the conservative Edmund Burke Foundation pointed out that “Poland, the biggest, richest, and most populous country in the region, with the biggest army and access to the North Atlantic, is the region’s natural leader. That is why Brussels is so hell-bent on subjugating Poland, whether through intimidation or blackmail. A partnership with America in defense, energy investments, and infrastructure development would make Poland more resilient if not immune to pressure from the EU.”
Willescz also told us how the assistance of Batman and other superheroes may well have given Nawrocki a final boost in the race. Days before the voting, she recalled, “the [Warsaw] police were busy chasing [someone dressed as heroic swordsman] Zorro for unfurling a banner with ‘anyone but Trzaskowski’ from a rooftop overlooking a Trzaskowski rally. The stunt was followed by [someone dressed as] Batman, displaying a similar sign and ‘Batman’ was detained for disorderly conduct. The arrest produced an intervention by ‘Spider-Man’ with a ‘Free Batman’ banner going viral, followed by and a national wave of copy cat stunts.”
Soon, Willescz added, “all Batman, Spider-Man, and Zorro costumes were sold out. Social media was brimming with all manner of super hero memes and selfies in defiance of the country’s 48-hour mandatory ‘electoral silence’ before the voting.”
Given such a close contest, it is difficult to say what factors were key to Nawrocki’s win. But coupled with such populist governments in Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia, plus the second-placed showings of populist parties in the parliaments of Germany, France, and Portugal — not to mention their first-place showings in Austria and the Netherlands — it seems safe to say that dissatisfaction with the status quo is on the march in Europe.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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