Krakow, Poland - When Adrian Zandberg, the leader of the Polish left-wing Razm (together) gathering, prepares to talk to a large crowd on Wednesday in a central square in Krakow, he is not just preparing for Sunday's presidential election.

Zandberg revolutionized the cheering crowd, proposing his ideals: quality public services, affordable housing for all, investment in education and science, and the end of the right-wing second-hand monopoly that is toxic in Polish politics.

Zandberg is one of the two presidential hopes of the Polish left-the other is Magdalena Biejat of Lewica (Left). Between the two of them, they represent a political force that has long been on the political border. Sunday's game is also a struggle to fight for the leadership of the sport, which is popular with cities, often young people.

Polls show that the final presidential campaign - the first round of votes will take place on Sunday - will be between two favorites, RafałTrzaskowski and the right-wing party Citizen Platform and representatives of Law and Justice (PIS), who have ruled the political stage of the country over the past 20 years.

Still, Sandberg was full of confidence and passion when speaking to his supporters.

"I believe we can build a different, better Poland. I believe we have the ability to make Poland a country with decent public services," he declared. "We can afford people in the world's 20th economy and no longer line up to see a doctor. We can afford young, hard-working people, able to rent roofs at normal prices so that they can have the ability to start families."

He called the current system "unconstitutional" and he called for changes. He said the system "posed a threat to the future of Poland."

Like other left-wing politicians, he has been a staunch critic of the neoliberal views of the two leading candidates, who lack commitment to secure affordable housing for people (which is a constitutional right), attempts to privatize the health care system, and their seemingly embrace of anti-immigrant sentences in the country.

Have a "real" influence on Polish politics

The day before, on another square in central Krakow, Sandberg's main rival, Biejat, stood in front of her own crowd of supporters. Unlike Zandberg's Razem, her party, Lewica, is part of the ruling civic coalition, as well as the center-right wing civic platform.

Lewica's decision to enter the coalition government in late 2023 has attracted criticism from leftists and has become a major player in the debate between two left-wing presidential candidates.

Biejat spoke at a rally Tuesday to defend his decision to join the league. According to her, this made her party have a real impact on Polish politics.

She listed their achievements: "Thanks to Levika in the government, we managed to introduce pension supplements for widows. We managed to introduce a pilot program that shortened working hours. We managed to increase funeral allowances," Biejat said.

"We changed the definition of rape so women no longer need to explain to the judge that it was not their fault that someone hurt them. Thanks to us, parents of premature babies spend extra vacations in the hospital every week with a little kid in the hospital."

The Krakom crowd, though smaller than Zandberg, cheered Biejat's declaration of support for women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities, and affordable housing rights.

A fragile revival?

The two-term presidency of the left-wing Aleksander Kwasniewsk is independent, but is also one of the founders of the Democratic left-wing coalition, and is very successful. Under his presidency ended in 2005, Poland joined NATO and the EU and proposed a new constitution. However, the left has been in crisis since he left.

Although the ideal of the left-wing candidate is almost no different from that of the left-wing candidates in other European countries, the attraction to Poland is limited with the fantasy of immigration and is dissatisfied with the one million Ukrainian refugees fighting Russia. Two left-wing candidates are expected to win 5% of the vote, according to the latest overall poll by Politico.

In the recent European elections in 2024, Levika received only 6.3% of the vote, the lowest score in its history. In the latest parliamentary elections in 2023, the party received only 5.3% of the vote. The question now is whether leftist parties can start making a comeback.

Some observers have seen signs of possible revival – but it is fragile.

"Any result for any candidate (in the upcoming presidential competition) would be a good score. Below 4%, it's a bad result," said Bartosz Rydlinski, a political scientist at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Washa.

He praised Berg for “restarting the Razem Party project” by attracting young voters. “Recent research shows that he is competing with Slawomir Mentzen, the Federalist Party’s most popular leader in ultra-conservative and liberal marketing, to be number one among the youngest voters.

"Just Magdalena Biejat represents middle-class women, living in big cities. She is their mirror image. The election will show that one of them is more popular," Reidski said.

Limited appeal

In the last presidential election five years ago, Robert Biedron of Levika is now a Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP), winning just 2.2% of the vote. This time, the left is expected to do better, but its appeal is still limited.

According to experts, the left party has lost much of its traditional support base for nationalist conservative law and justice (PIS), which attracts voters with generous welfare packages. According to Politico's poll, in this presidential election, Karol Nawrocki, supported by PIS, is expected to vote 25% in the first round.

Despite the fact that Nawrocki abandoned the commitment of law and justice to social welfare and embraced the free market thinking, focusing on strengthening the alliance with the United States while simultaneously setting Poland out of the European Union.

His main competitor, RafałTrzaskowski of the Central Citizen Platform, had a turnout of 31%.

"The left has been working hard to win prosocial legal and judicial voters, but so far the left has failed," Jakub Majmurek, commentator for the left-wing Krytyka Polityczna Media Media, told Al Jazeera. "First, because these voters are often counting and considering law and justice to be more reliable welfare providers than the weak.

“Secondly, on social issues, these voters are largely pro-church and more conservative than the left.”

A good outcome for the left in Sunday's election could lead to bringing left-wing politics back to the agenda, analysts said, and said some situations tend to reverse the long-term trend of far-right and center-right politicians ruling the government.

"If the combined results of Biejat and Zandberg are about 10%, in the second election, Trzaskowski and even Nawrocki have to somehow try to demand the left-wing voter," Majmurek explained.

“It would be the best case for the left. Especially if both candidates get similar votes.