Conservative historian Karol Nawrocki, supported by the right-wing Legal and Justice Party, provided support to supporters at headquarters after running off the presidential election in Warsaw, Poland on Sunday. Czarek Sokolowski/AP Closed subtitles
Warsaw, Poland - Conservative Karol Nawrocki won the presidential landing election for Poland over the weekend, based on Monday's final vote. Nawrocki won 50.89% of the votes in a very tense match against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who won 49.11%.
Close play has left the country on the edge since the first round two weeks ago and throughout Monday, revealing the deep divisions of the country on the eastern side of NATO and the EU.
An early exit poll released Sunday night showed Trzaskowski would win, and then the updated vote began to reverse for hours.
The results show that Poland can be expected to take a more nationalist path under its new leader, which has been supported by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Most of the daily powers in the Polish political system are in the prime minister elected by the parliament. But the role of the president is not just etiquette. The office has the power to influence foreign policy and veto legislation.
Nawrocki will take over as Andrzej Duda, whose second and final semesters will end on August 6.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk came to power in late 2023 at the end of a coalition government that crossed the ideological divide - so widespread that it could not meet Tusk's election promises, such as easing restrictive abortion laws.
But Duda's veto is another obstacle. It prevented Ivory from fulfilling its commitments, politicizing the court system in a way that the European Union declared undemocracy.
Now it seems that Tusk will not be able to fulfill those commitments made to voters and the EU.
Nawrocki is a 42-year-old historian who was attacked by the Law and Justice Partional as part of its restart.
The party ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023 when it lost power to the centrist coalition led by Ivory. Some political observers predict that the party will never make a comeback, and Navoroki was chosen as the new face and would not be burned to death by the scandal of the party's eight-year rule.
Nawrocki was recently the head of the National Memorial Institute, which contains a nationalist historical narrative. According to Polish media reports, he led his efforts to overturn the monument to Poland's Soviet Red Army, and Russia responded by putting him on the wanted list.
Navoloki’s supporters describe him as an embodiment of tradition, patriotic values. Those who object to secular trends, including LGBTQ+ visibility, embraced him, seeing him as a reflection of the traditional values they grew up with.
Trump made it clear that he wanted Nawrocki to be President of Poland.
Conservative group CPAC held its first meeting in Poland last week to strengthen Navoroki. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, a well-known Trump ally, Kristi Noem, praised Nawrocki and urged the Poles to vote for him.
With approximately 10,000 troops sent in Poland, Neum suggested that military tie could be deepened with Navoroki as president.
One general avoidance of Nawrocki's supporters is that he will return to "normal" as they think Trump has done. The U.S. flag is often seen at rallies in Navoroki, and his supporters believe he offers a better opportunity to connect with the Trump administration.