Market2025 Polish presidential election
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2025 Polish presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Poland on 18 May 2025. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 1 June 2025. Incumbent president Andrzej Duda was ineligible for re-election to a third term. The second round was won by conservative Institute of National Remembrance director Karol Nawrocki, with 50.89% of the vote, who was backed by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Nawrocki defeated the progressive-liberal Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, who received 49.11% of the vote, nominated for the second time by the Civic Coalition (KO). It was the third consecutive victory for a candidate supported by Law and Justice in the presidential elections.

Electoral system
{{multiple image Presidential elections in Poland must be held on a day off work (Sunday or public holiday), between 75 and 100 days before the end of the term of the sitting president. However, they may be held earlier if the office becomes vacant due to the death, resignation, or removal of the incumbent. The Marshal of the Sejm is responsible for setting the date of presidential elections and in this case had three possible dates to choose from: 4 May, 11 May, or 18 May 2025. The President of Poland is elected for a five-year term using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a run-off is held between the top two candidates. Presidents serve a five-year term and can be re-elected once. Presidential terms expire on 6 August, and the president-elect takes the oath of office on the same day before the National Assembly (a joint session of the Sejm and the Senate). In order to be registered to contest the election, a candidate must be a Polish citizen, be at least 35 years old on the day of the first round of the election, and have collected at least 100,000 voters' signatures by at 16:00 (CEST). In 2025, 13 candidates registered, the highest amount of candidates tied with 1995. All citizens are eligible to vote following their 18th birthday, except for those that have been disenfranchised, stripped of public rights, or are detained. Voters cast votes in their regional district electoral commissions (plural ), but can also vote abroad, outside of their assigned district electoral commission, or by correspondence if they have notified the electoral commission beforehand. Voting takes place for 14 hours, between 7:00 and 21:00 (CEST). The elections are managed by the National Electoral Commission (), which, for this election, was composed of the chairman (), deputy chairman () and seven members recommended by groups in the Sejm — two by Civic Coalition, two by Law and Justice, and one respectively by Poland 2050, the Polish People's Party, and The Left. The National Electoral Commission, in press conferences throughout election day, reports turnout for 12:00, 17:00 (CEST) and the final turnout. For the day preceding, and day of, the election, until polls close at 21:00, election silence is in place. In the second round of the presidential election, there were 87 incidents of electoral silence being broken. == Background ==
Background
Duda's second inauguration Incumbent President Andrzej Duda (PiS) narrowly defeated Rafał Trzaskowski (PO) in the 2020 presidential election and was sworn in for his second term on . Duda would govern along with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his cabinet until the 2023 parliamentary election. The parliamentary election saw record-high turnout, with 74.4% of eligible Poles casting their vote, an increase of 12.6 percentage points since 2019. Tusk's cabinet Following the 2023 parliamentary election and installment of the short-lived renomination of Mateusz Morawiecki, Donald Tusk's cabinet, comprising Civic Coalition, Poland 2050, the Polish People's Party, and the New Left, began governing the country. Tusk's coalition did not have enough votes to bypass the presidential veto, for which it would need 276 votes. (PL2050-TD), Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz (PSL-TD), Donald Tusk (KO), Włodzimierz Czarzasty (NL) and Robert Biedroń (NL). In the presidential election, the TD alliance fielded Szymon Hołownia, KO fielded Rafał Trzaskowski, and NL fielded Magdalena Biejat. Tusk cabinet economic policy Since the coalition's rise to power, Tusk's cabinet had pledged to deregulate the economy and balance the budget. In February 2025, Tusk invited billionaire Rafał Brzoska and Google CEO Sundar Pichai to deregulate the Polish economy and cut labor regulations. Tusk's proposal of Brzoska has led to media labelling him as the "Polish Elon Musk", but Brzoska later abandoned the project, citing poor cooperation. Tusk has been accused of granting Google a monopoly over the Artificial Intelligence sector in Poland via his investment agreements with Pichai. In May, Tusk also promised more than one hundred laws that would help deregulate the Polish economy, but they were scrapped. Tusk cabinet social policy The ruling coalition was composed of mostly centrist or slightly right leaning parties. However, the New Left also being part of the cabinet, postulated decriminalization of abortion and progressive LGBT+-policies. The Sejm rejected the proposal in July 2024. Facing opposition within the ruling coalition of a large group of dissidents from the Polish People's Party, the vote failed with 218 votes against and 215 for decriminalization. Tusk cabinet healthcare policy On 4 April, the Sejm narrowly voted (213–190, with KO, PL2050 and PSL voting for – PiS, NL and Razem against – and Konfederacja mainly abstaining) to decrease the health insurance contribution () for entrepreneurs, which sparked protests from the left, especially members of Razem, accusing the government of attempting to undermine and then privatize public healthcare. Ultimately, Andrzej Duda vetoed the health contribution decrease on 6 May. == Candidate selection ==
Candidate selection
Registered candidates } Law and Justice Because of the centralized nature of the party, the choice for selecting who the party's candidate would be fell primarily to the party chairman, Jarosław Kaczyński, based on social research and the balance of factional power within the party. Preceding the election, speculative candidates included PiS parliamentary leader Mariusz Błaszczak, MEP Tobiasz Bocheński, poseł Zbigniew Bogucki, former Minister Przemysław Czarnek, MEP Patryk Jaki, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, poseł Arkadiusz Mularczyk, IPN director Karol Nawrocki, poseł Kacper Płażyński, former Deputy Minister Tomasz Szatkowski and MEP Dominik Tarczyński, among others. President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Witold Bańka, was also considered Kaczyński's favoured candidate, but he refused to run in the election. In an August Radio Maryja interview, Kaczyński stated that the selection of possible candidates was narrowing, and described that the PiS candidate must be a "young, tall, imposing, handsome" male "[with] a family". A United Surveys poll in September 2024 suggested 29% of PiS voters supported Błaszczak, 21% supported Morawiecki, 11% supported Czarnek, 7% supported Nawrocki, 6% supported Bocheński and 6% supported Tarczyński. The possibility of a primary election for the party was rumored, but ultimately, never announced. By November 2024, media speculation regarding the candidates narrowed down to, most frequently, Bocheński, Czarnek and Nawrocki. According to Newsweek, Nawrocki was supported internally by party activists such as Adam Bielan, Joachim Brudziński, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, , and Mateusz Morawiecki (despite initially desiring to himself be the candidate). Ultimately, the party selected nonpartisan Karol Nawrocki as its candidate on 22 November, and declared his candidacy publicly on 24 November. Civic Coalition Unlike the other parties, the Civic Platform historically held primary elections to select a candidate for the 2010 and 2020 presidential elections. In the lead-up to the election, the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, was considered the presumptive nominee of the Civic Coalition for the presidential election, running for the second time after his loss in the previous election. Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, who previously also attempted to become the Civic Platform's candidate for the 2010 Polish presidential election and 2020 presidential elections, pursued the Coalition's nomination for a third time. With Trzaskowski's presumptive nominee status challenged by Sikorski, the Civic Coalition on 9 November announced it will be holding a presidential primary within the party to decide who will be the coalition's candidate in the election. Trzaskowski's most prominent backers were Dorota Łoboda, Sławomir Nitras, Barbara Nowacka, Agnieszka Pomaska, Adam Szłapka and Cezary Tomczyk. Trzaskowski was considered the candidate who could appeal to left-leaning voters. He was the favorite across the race, consistently overperforming Sikorski in opinion polls. Sikorski was endorsed by Roman Giertych, Marta Golbik, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, Arkadiusz Myrcha and Bogdan Zdrojewski. His campaign was focused on being more experienced to handle the increasingly tense international situation of Poland, and the assumption that he could gain more votes from centrist and conservative electorates in the second round, with opposition voters preferring him, in contrast to coalition voters preferring Trzaskowski. Sikorski, from the position of the underdog, campaigned aggressively, manifesting in him winning Donald Tusk's Twitter poll with 64.7% against Trzaskowski's 35.3%. Other topics in the campaign also included the 2024 United States presidential election, and the Jewish ancestry of Sikorski's wife, Anne Applebaum, which Sikorski commented as unacceptable discourse. On 22 November, the primary election took place, after which Trzaskowski was declared the winner the following day, with 75% of the votes, against Sikorski's 25%. and New Hope leader Sławomir Mentzen declaring their participation, with Confederation of the Polish Crown leader Grzegorz Braun being considered a possible candidate. Przemysław Wipler of New Hope ruled out the possibility of his faction allowing for Braun or any other politician to contesting the alliance's primary. On 13 August, Bosak stated that he would only contest a hypothetical presidential primary election for all right-wing parties, and in the event of such not being organized, endorsed Mentzen, stating that holding a primary election for the alliance alone would not advance their cause. Grzegorz Braun announced his disapproval for the possibility of the alliance not holding a primary, appealing for the candidate selection process to be open and procedural, instead of agreed in backroom deals. Regardless, on 20 August, Confederation announced that Mentzen would be its candidate in the election without a primary. In opposition to this, Braun, who had been increasingly marginalized in the Confederation since the departure of Janusz Korwin-Mikke from New Hope leadership, declared a separate candidacy on 16 January, leaving the Confederation alliance. Third Way Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia was the presumptive nominee, announcing his candidacy on 13 November. and the Centre for Poland An important matter for some in the party was to present a female candidate. Rzeczpospolita claims, however, that the party most strongly debated between Biejat and Kukucki. On 15 December, the party officially endorsed Magdalena Biejat, a nonpartisan who recently seceded from Razem. Another party in the Left, Razem, dissatisfied with the governing coalition, held a non-binding referendum to leave the Left alliance and join the parliamentarny opposition on 11–12 October, with results indicating 70% of participants supporting leaving. As a result, it established its own parliamentary group, but suffered a split, with the pro-government faction that included Magdalena Biejat aligning with the New Left. On 11 January, Adrian Zandberg, Razem's leader, announced his start in the presidential election. Former Democratic Left Alliance poseł Joanna Senyszyn declared her start in the election on 20 January, successfully registering and contesting them. Labour Union leader Waldemar Witkowski also declared he would partake in the elections, but ended up endorsing Biejat instead. None of them ran. Throughout the candidate selection process, media presented the possibility of the ruling coalition running a single candidate. Polls showed Trzaskowski as the most popular choice for a coalition candidate. The idea of a coalition candidate was supported by the leader of the Polish People's Party, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, but demeaned by other coalition leaders. Withdrawn Stanisław ŻółtekMEP for Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie (2014–2019), leader of the Congress of the New Right and PolExit; withdrew to endorse Grzegorz Braun • – withdrew to endorse Marek WochKatarzyna Cichos – withdrew to endorse Marek Woch Candidate registration A group of citizens seeking to register a candidate in the election was required to establish an electoral committee () consisting of at least members and submit a notice to the National Electoral Commission, supported with citizens' signatures, no later than . To register a candidate, an electoral committee had to submit an additional endorsement signatures to the PKW by , the final date for candidate registration. The PKW verified the lists of signatures as they were submitted. The following committees and candidates applied for registration: == Campaign issues ==
Campaign issues
Campaign themes Nawrocki's campaign Karol Nawrocki pitted his campaign against the unpopular government and Prime Minister, declaring the election as a referendum on the Tusk cabinet, He portrayed himself as a nonpartisan "citizens' candidate" () supported by Law and Justice, as he was never a member of any political party, and as an authentic "flesh and bone man" (), contrasting with Trzaskowski by calling him the product of a political laboratory. Nawrocki's campaign was oriented around the welfare of citizens, national security and infrastructural development. Trzaskowski's campaign Rafał Trzaskowski defended the incumbent coalition government, blaming its inaction on the presidential veto of incumbent president Andrzej Duda. He portrayed himself as a competent and educated candidate, highlighting his knowledge of foreign languages, education and political experience, promising to be independent of party decisionmaking. He challenged Nawrocki's nonpartisan presentation, attacking him as the "decision of the [PiS] party chairman". Mentzen's campaign Sławomir Mentzen presented himself as the anti-establishment candidate who would take on the "duopoly" of the Law and Justice and Civic Platform parties, which have dominated politics since the 2005 parliamentary election. He was the dominant candidate in social media and among the youth. He also campaigned on polling indicating himself to have the highest chance out of all the right-wing candidates to defeat Trzaskowski in the second round of the election. He focused his campaign on economic and security issues, most prominently tax reform, immigration and military readiness for war. Braun's campaign Grzegorz Braun ran on the slogan "This is Poland!". Braun's campaign was also unique in making populist demands, such as the exhumation of the Jedwabne pogrom victims, releasing classified files on the dissolution of the Military Information Services, and restarting investigations into deaths of Jerzy Popiełuszko, Andrzej Lepper, Sławomir Petelicki and Marek Papała. Braun became popular for controversial stunts during his campaign; he organized protests that successfully forced the German supermarket chain Lidl to resign from building a store near the place of Marian apparitions in Gietrzwałd, winning over voters concerned with preserving Catholic tradition, economic nationalism and limiting foreign capital in Poland. Braun's campaign and rhetoric was described by critics as "hostile to democracy, full of conspiracy theories, religiously fundamentalist, and often openly anti-Semitic and anti-Ukrainian", while supporters praised his "fight for truth, authenticity", "soldier-like" dedication to the values of God, Honour, Fatherland, and challenging the submissive attitude of the Polish governments towards Ukraine, Israel and NATO. His campaign was centered on Polish nationalism, Catholic tradition and opposition to NATO and the European Union. Other campaigns Szymon Hołownia promised to support "local Poland", decentralize the state administration and apply referendums to resolve polarizing issues. He presented himself as a "candidate for the people", as opposed to a partisan candidate. Hołownia highlighted energy transition, housing prices, national security and children's safety from technology addiction as campaign issues. Adrian Zandberg, a leftwing candidate, contrasted himself against former party ally Magdalena Biejat in his criticism of the ruling coalition, which he criticized as corrupt and ineffectual in resolving problems of the citizens. He presented himself as an anti-establishment candidate, fighting for votes among Mentzen's young anti-establishment base. Zandberg's campaign oriented around infrastructural development, reducing housing prices and improving Poland's healthcare system. Magdalena Biejat, a former member of Zandberg's Razem party, criticized Zandberg for his opposition to the ruling government, highlighting the pro-government Left's accomplishments as allies of the Prime Minister. Economy Nawrocki's program was described as economically interventionist, or economically left-wing. Nawrocki described himself as a strong supporter of armaments and social investment programmes. Nawrocki supported large economic investments; he strongly supports the Central Communication Port (, CPK) project, and praised the Central Industrial Region and Stocznia Gdynia schemes developed in the interwar Second Polish Republic. Nawrocki expressed his fascination with other large investments such as the Vistula Spit canal and Świnoujście LNG terminal, wanting to pursue similar undertakings. He promised investments of new infrastructure in every gmina. He opposed increasing social spending and expressed openess to austerity policies. endorsed Rafał Brzoska's "deregulation task force" and wanted to accelerate the process of deregulation, and pledged to sign the government's bill to cut health insurance tax for entrepreneurs. Braun promised to oppose any budget bill "that allocates a single złoty to matters unrelated to Poles"; this included opposing welfare benefits for Ukrainian immigrants and Jewish property claims. He also demanded a reversal of "selling off Polish land and resources". He argued that Poland should generate energy from both renewable and non-renewable sources, focusing on lowering life costs instead of minimizing the environmental impact. European Union and foreign policy Nawrocki opposed adoption of the Euro as Poland's currency. He also opposed the European Green Deal as well as the EU–Mercosur Association Agreement and further EU economic regulations. Hołownia opposed adoption of the Euro until Poland's economy is ready for its adoption, drawing criticism for changing his rhetoric from strong support of the currency. Braun advocated multilateralism - he supported Polexit, supported securing mutual energy and safe border agreements with Belarus, sought to withdraw Polish aid to Ukraine, and criticized the Polish government for becoming "the servants of Ukraine". Braun also campaigned on pursuing good relations with the Russian Federation and punishing Israel for the "Israeli genocide in Gaza". Housing The enactment of a cadastral tax () on owners of several properties was seen as a way to remedy the increasing cost of housing within cities. A SW Research poll showed that, overall, 40% of respondents supported and 34% opposed the introduction of a cadastral tax. Another proposed solution was the construction of low-rent housing by the state. Nawrocki's stance on the cadastral tax idea was criticized as contradictory, with him stating opposition to a cadastral tax, yet supporting taxation of properties possessed by owners of three or more houses. He promised to lower the cost of housing in the country, stating he would "fight for cheap housing". Trzaskowski's electoral committee declared its candidate was against the introduction of a cadastral tax and in favor of state construction of housing. Mentzen opposed cadastral taxes and was against state construction of low-rent housing. portraying the government as gender ideology radicals. He was opposed to the easing of Poland's abortion laws and the introduction of same-sex marriage or civil unions, instead supporting the instatement of status for homosexual couples. Trzaskowski was ideologically culturally liberal, supporting causes such as the LGBT rights movement, same-sex civil unions and abortion legalization, but moderated by standing against same-sex adoption and distancing himself from the LGBT movement. despite usually obstructing the event's occurrence as Mayor of Warsaw. Mentzen emphasized protection of free speech in his campaign, standing against "leftwing political correctness". Mentzen supported easing gun laws, legalization of marijuana and gambling. However, he also declared his opposition to legalized abortion. Braun postulated a total abortion ban, abolition of healthcare monopolies, Polish exit from the World Health Organization, universal access to guns, abolition of compulsory vaccination and introduction of school vouchers. He stressed the lack of transport in Poland and has pledged to develop rail infrastructure in underdeveloped regions of the country. His other proposals include abolishing tax on savings and increasing the annual indexation of pensions. He also expressed welfare chauvinist views — believing that Poles are "treated worse in their own country than immigrants", Nawrocki argued that social benefits in Poland should be for Poles only, and pensions for unemployed Ukrainian refugees should be eliminated; additionally, Polish citizens should have a priority in healthcare, school and kindergarten queues. Mentzen's campaign oriented around the lowering of taxes, removing the inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and simplifying the personal income tax, corporate tax, value-added tax, among others. Braun supported the abolition of income tax, corporation tax and compulsory health insurance. == Campaign ==
Campaign
First round Sławomir Mentzen of the Confederation alliance was the first candidate to begin an electoral campaign on , drawing criticism and accusations of illegality from politicians of other parties for its early start. Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia from the Poland 2050 party declared his candidacy on 13 November. The Civic Coalition (KO) selected its candidate in a presidential primary on 22 November after Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski challenged presumptive nominee, Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, who was KO's 2020 presidential candidate. Following the KO primary, Institute of National Remembrance chairman Karol Nawrocki was endorsed by the Law and Justice party on 24 November as an officially independent candidate, as he never belonged to any political party. Other groups also ran their own candidates. Parties of the left, the New Left and Razem, selected Magdalena Biejat and Adrian Zandberg respectively. On the right, the Free Republicans group endorsed Marek Jakubiak, and the Confederation of the Polish Crown ran Grzegorz Braun after splitting off from Mentzen's Confederation. Other candidates, not representing parties in parliament, also appeared: Artur Bartoszewicz (independent), Maciej Maciak (Prosperity and Peace Movement), Joanna Senyszyn (Democratic Left Association), Krzysztof Stanowski (independent) and Marek Woch (Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy). In total, the first round of the election had 13 candidates on the ballot, the largest amount of candidates tied with the 1995 presidential election. Speculation swiftly began on whether PiS would replace Nawrocki when it was revealed that he had contact with a future criminal as part of his time as a boxer two decades prior, for which he was attacked by opposing politicians. Polling showed, however, that the vast plurality of people did not expect Nawrocki to be replaced. Nawrocki would continue being PiS' presidential candidate going into the first round and would face further controversies about his private life. At the party conference on 2 March, Nawrocki declared the election a "referendum on rejecting Tusk", which would remain a theme throughout the campaign, referenced in events like the successful Zabrze recall referendum for the city's KO-aligned mayor, which occurred a week before the first round of the election. On , Nawrocki was endorsed by Solidarity, Poland's largest trade union, pledging not to raise the age of retirement and to defend the minimum wage. Following the first round, on 20 May, Rural Solidarity also endorsed Nawrocki. At Nawrocki's electoral convention in Łódź on 26 April, he earned the endorsement of outgoing president Andrzej Duda, who previously refrained from issuing endorsements or supporting any of the candidates. Nawrocki also secured the support of Donald Trump, with Kristi Noem endorsing him at the first Polish CPAC event near Rzeszów on 27 May. During the campaign, Trzaskowski took a "turn to the right"; Trzaskowski put forward the idea to limit welfare programs for non-working Ukrainian refugees which was proposed in the Sejm by Law and Justice on 20 January to "check" the genuinity of Trzaskowski's proposal. While being a supporter of LGBT rights, he was not outspoken about it. Mentzen and Braun, who would come third and fourth in the election, campaigned along right-wing social and economic lines. Mentzen, who polled best among the youth, and eventually won the demographic, visited the largest amount of powiats out of all the other candidates. Some commentators believed Mentzen had a chance to enter the second round, and by March, Mentzen was rising in opinion polling, in some of them even slightly coming ahead of Nawrocki. However, he began declining afterwards. In March, a controversy erupted over an abortion conducted in the 36th week of pregnancy of a fetus with a birth defect in a hospital in Oleśnica. Right-wing politicians criticized the abortion. President Duda called the act barbaric, Nawrocki called it murder and stated that the state should help children with disabilities, Braun came to notoriety regarding the incident when on 16 April, he, along with others, stormed into the hospital and constrained the gynecologist who conducted the abortion for several minutes, claiming to be doing a On 27 March, Mentzen held an interview with candidate Krzysztof Stanowski, during which his assertion expressing unconditional opposition to abortion and describing pregnancy resulting from rape as "unpleasant" sparked significant backlash, with some commentators attributing his decline in polling by late March to this statement. An important election issue was the matter of the health insurance contribution (), with the country's poor healthcare being amongst the most important problems. which sparked protests from the left, especially MPs from Razem, accusing the government of attempting to undermine and then privatize public healthcare. which he vetoed on 6 May. Following Duda's veto of the decrease, Trzaskowski defended his party's health insurance contribution proposal, stating it would lead to increase the amount of money in the healthcare system, with Hołownia also approving of the proposal. Meanwhile, Nawrocki and Biejat disagreed, speaking of the already poor state of Poland's healthcare. During the course of the campaign, public criticism emerged over Nawrocki's acquisition of a second apartment from an elderly man in pre-trial detention. As Nawrocki had declared to own just one apartment during a debate, Onet publicized information about him owning a second one. The candidate proceeded to declare that he had acquired the second apartment from the elderly man for pledging lifelong care in exchange, however it was revealed the man was placed in a state care facility without Nawrocki's involvement. Amid accusations of exploitation, Nawrocki defended the deal's legality and promised to donate the property to charity. Second round Trzaskowski and Nawrocki advanced to the second round, with Nawrocki overperforming in the polls. Hołownia and Biejat quickly endorsed Trzaskowski, which were signed by Nawrocki. Trzaskowski also appeared on , agreeing with four out of the eight points, but not agreeing to sign onto them, and being more assertive towards the host. Trzaskowski, meanwhile, faced criticism from Left supporters, which were dissatisfied with him drinking with a far-right politician. Shortly after the completion of the first round, both candidates announced launching rallies of support to be held in Warsaw on the same day, 25 May. Differing turnout estimates were presented, ranging between 130,000 and 160,000, including Romanian president-elect Nicușor Dan, for Trzaskowski's march and between 50,000 and 70,000 for Nawrocki's rally. Throughout the second round, Nawrocki encountered a set of new controversies involving his personal life, beginning with the revelation that he had previously participated in a 70 vs 70 football hooligans' fight () between fans of Lechia Gdańsk and Lech Poznań. Facing criticism, he accused Prime Minister Tusk of likewise participating in football hooliganism in his youth, and called the fights "noble battles". It also came to light that Nawrocki had Chelsea F.C. and Lechia Gdańsk tattoos on his torso. Further controversies about Nawrocki's personal background emerged due to allegations of him having worked as a bodyguard for prostitutes in a five-star Grand Hotel in Sopot in his youth and using snus while on air during a presidential debate, causing allegations of him possibly being heavily addicted to nicotine. Meanwhile, Trzaskowski's campaign was hampered by party colleagues — KO poseł Kinga Gajewska was criticized for taking photos handing nursing home residents sacks of potatoes, former President Bronisław Komorowski claiming he most proudly hunts ducks (, implying PiS leaders Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński), KO poseł Przemysław Witek sarcastically responding with "What's the harm in promising?" to the question about whether Trzaskowski and KO would agree to Mentzen's postulate of not imposing any new taxes, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk citing convicted Freak Fighter Jacek Murański as his main source for Nawrocki's Grand Hotel allegations, sounding like he was favoring Murański's comments more than the research conducted by his own government ministries in the early 2010's. Second round candidate endorsements Other endorsements Foreign politicians == Debates ==
Debates
Ten debates were organized, with eight directly between candidates participating in the election, with most excluding Maciej Maciak. Due to the boycotting of debates hosted by the right-wing TV Republika by Trzaskowski and Biejat, the two candidates had the lowest turnout, with Trzaskowski or his representative appearing at only 56% of the debates he was invited to. On , two debates took place in Końskie, widely described as chaotic. One was organized by TV Republika, and the Catholic Telewizja Trwam, with five candidates participating (Hołownia, Jakubiak, Nawrocki, Senyszyn, Stanowski). which organization started spontaneously on 9 April, On an official presidential debate involving all 13 candidates was hosted by the state broadcaster Telewizja Polska. During the debate, two questions were published by an employee of the broadcaster Jarosław Olechowski on Twitter prior to being asked by the host ; one at the time of their publication, the other over an hour later. On , the first second-round debate was held between Nawrocki and Trzaskowski. The debate had thematic sections for healthcare, foreign policy, economics, welfare, security and social policy. Nawrocki was criticized for using a nicotine pouch (snus) in the middle of the debate. Meanwhile, Trzaskowski caused controversy for calling to fact-check Nawrocki, which confirmed Nawrocki's statement. The final debate of the election, organized by Telewizja Republika, was set to take place on in the market square of Końskie. However, Trzaskowski ultimately declined the invitation and instead travelled to Kalisz to speak with voters in a one-on-one format there. Nawrocki's televised conversation with the town's residents was interrupted by Witold Zembaczyński, who drew attention to himself using a deck of cards and by running in front of the stage. Journalist Krzysztof Stanowski, himself a candidate, held extensive interviews with all of the other candidates, except for Maciej Maciak, the interview with whom was ended abruptly just after a few minutes once Maciak expressed favorable views about the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Stanowski's interviews had a major influence on the course of the electoral campaign. Participation The following is a table of participating candidates in each debate: Debata Szymona Hołowni z Magdaleną Biejat (30 kwietnia 2025) 03.jpg | Biejat-Hołownia debate on 30 April in Gdynia == Timeline ==
Timeline
Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia announced the election day on ; the following schedule was approved by the National Electoral Commission on : == Opinion polls ==
Opinion polls
First round Second round == Results ==
Results
In the first round Trzaskowski came first with 31% of the vote, with Nawrocki coming in second with 30%, advancing to the second round. The right-wing candidates Nawrocki, Mentzen and Braun overperformed polls, received 30%, 15% and 6% respectively, finishing second, third and fourth. Hołownia and Biejat underperformed, coming fifth and seventh, the latter coming below her left-wing rival, Zandberg. In the second round, according to an exit poll by Ipsos, Trzaskowski received 50.3% of the vote and Nawrocki 49.7%, however, the margin of 0.6% was within the margin of error. Shortly after the poll was released, Trzaskowski claimed victory giving a speech to supporters in Warsaw. A late poll, released by Ipsos at 23:00, later indicated that Nawrocki came first with 50.7% of the vote. After all votes were counted, Nawrocki's vote share ended with 10,606,877 votes (50.89%), against Trzaskowski's 10,237,286 (49.11%). By voivodeship, abroad and ships First round Second round Electorate demographics == Turnout ==
Turnout
Overview Increase or decrease in turnout relative to 2020. First round Voter turnout by voivodeships Voter turnout in large cities (with populations over 250,000) Voter turnout by location Second round Voter turnout by voivodeships Voter turnout in large cities (with populations over 250,000) Voter turnout by location == Campaign spending ==
Conduct
PiS campaign funding dispute In the lead-up to the election, a portion of the party subsidy was withheld from Law and Justice. The issue emerged after the National Electoral Commission ruled the party's financial report for the 2023 parliamentary campaign, and consequently its 2023 annual report, to be flawed. As a result, both the campaign dotation and the annual subsidy were reduced by approximately 11millionPLN. The ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court of Poland, where the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber decided in favour of the party. This legally bound the commission to change its verdict, which happened on . However, as the legitimacy of this particular Supreme Court chamber has been questioned by the ruling government and the Court of Justice of the European Union due to the ongoing rule of law crisis since 2017, the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański refused to transfer the disputed funds. Ultimately, Nawrocki had to conduct his campaign without the funds transferred to PiS. Therefore, he had to finance his campaign through a grassroot effort – around 50,000 supporters donated to his election effort. Electoral Protection Movement PiS launched the "Electoral Protection Movement" (), operated primarily by former minister Przemysław Czarnek, with the intention of safeguarding the democratic conduct of the election and protecting it from electoral fraud. Illegal funding for Trzaskowski and OSCE report Wirtualna Polska detailed allegations of an illegal advertising campaign on Facebook which favored Trzaskowski while attacking Nawrocki and Mentzen, with the advertising campaign having ties to the foreign company Estratos Digital GmbH based in Vienna and headed by two Hungarians Ádám Ficsor and Viktor Szigetvári, with capital tied to the American Democratic Party. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) investigated the election and confirmed the allegations. The OSCE-PACE report further pointed out the bias of government institutions like NASK in favor of Trzaskowski. According to the report, public media, like TVP, was also biased, and depicted Nawrocki in a negative light. The Polish National Broadcasting Council released a report accusing TVP and TVN of supporting the Trzaskowski campaign, and TV Republika of supporting Nawrocki. Shortly before the first round of the election, SMS spam messages were reported encouraging voters to vote for Trzaskowski. Trzaskowski's campaign staff distanced themselves from the messages and informed that they were notifying law enforcement of the incident. Social media The election marked a shift in which social media assumed a significantly greater role, increasingly rivaling traditional media for public attention. The campaign also marked a realignment in the social media landscape, as right-wing ascendancy replaced what had traditionally been a liberal-dominated sphere. In the first round, Sławomir Mentzen dominated the internet sphere, getting 15x as much internet traffic as Nawrocki and 10x as much as Trzaskowski in January. Negative campaigning on social media occupied a plurality — 1/3rds of election-related activity, with the tag "#AnyoneButTrzaskowski" () trending on social media as part of Nawrocki's second round campaign. significantly more than the 5,800 complaints following the 2020 presidential election, but significantly less than the 600,000 complaints following the 1995 presidential election. According to the Supreme Court, the overwhelming majority were copies of a complaint template shared by election denialist Roman Giertych, colloquially titled "giertychówki". The campaign of Trzaskowski also filed a complaint and created a website for its supporters to help them file one as well. The Supreme Court ruled to recount the votes in 13 such stations. On 12 June, the Supreme Court of Poland ordered a recount in 13 commissions, 0.04% of all 32,143 commissions. On 1 July 2025, the Supreme Court certified Nawrocki's victory as president. On 18 June, the Polish Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar announced that the National Public Prosecutor's Office would review the ballots in 250 selected voting stations where "serious anomalies" were considered likely. On 25 July, Prosecutor's Office announced the results of the investigation — out of the 250 voting stations reviewed, irregularities were found in 84 (33%). In 42 of those, the irregularities were at the expense of Trzaskowski, in 34 they were at the expense of Nawrocki, and in 8 the irregularities only concerned invalid votes. The investigation concluded that compared to the official results in the suspected voting stations, Nawrocki received 1538 less votes, and Trzaskowski 1541 more. Therefore, it did not affect the election's results. Later, on 6 August, the Prosecutor's Office declared that it had made a mistake, and that the discrepancy in votes was even smaller than reported — Nawrocki received 1239 less votes and Trzaskowski 1241 more. It also stated that the official election results remain unchanged because the investigation was only meant to determine whether a crime had taken place or not, and "was not intended to determine the results of the presidential election". == Analysis ==
Analysis
Ruling government Commenting on the assessment of the Tusk's government during the election, political scientist Gavin Rae argued that it showed misalignment with its promises from the 2023 Polish parliamentary election, and continuity with the right-wing policies of the previous government led by Law and Justice: Bright Blue wrote that "As it stands, Tusk’s grand coalition, despite Tusk having campaigned on a centre-left platform, is proving surprisingly centre-right". It noted the government's anti-immigration policies such as sharpening border controls, temporarily suspending the right of asylum, reducing the number of visas issued. Additionally, the organization noted Tusk's call for "an enormous deregulatory effort" in order to make Poland and Europe a "more competitive economic environment than the USA". Verfassungsblog wrote: Election results The election was similar to the 2024 United States presidential election, which was won by Republican Donald Trump by 1.5% over Democrat Kamala Harris. The defeats of Harris and Trzaskowski also showed that right-wing populism had staying power, even in countries known for their liberal traditions. Trump himself endorsed Nawrocki. Verfassungsblog wrote: Both elections showed an intensely polarized electorate and strong educational polarization. In both countries, higher educational attainment corresponded to higher support for the liberal candidate. Like in Poland, where Nawrocki won among working class voters, == Aftermath ==
Aftermath
Trzaskowski initially claimed victory after the first exit poll showed him leading, while Nawrocki said that the results were too close to call. Trzaskowski subsequently conceded after the final results showed Nawrocki winning. Nawrocki was sworn in on 6 August 2025. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a vote of confidence on his government, which was held on 11 June. Despite speculation of a possible breakdown of the coalition, Tusk survived after gaining the support of all 243 MPs that made up his coalition. Later, Donald Tusk's cabinet was reshuffled. The Third Way alliance dissolved on 17 June, as the Polish People's Party declared it will contest the next Polish parliamentary election separately from Szymon Hołownia's Poland 2050. After further disputes within Poland 2050, the party further fractured with half of its parliamentary representation leaving to form Centre in February 2026. Trzaskowski's defeat also led to the creation of the New Poland and New Wave parties. Election result disputes Several politicians and journalists aligned with the ruling coalition sowed doubt about the election results. Roman Giertych claimed opposition committed organized electoral fraud, claiming also that Nawrocki's campaign was advantaged by a right-leaning TikTok algorithm, which helped them in the campaign. Many other journalists and politicians, like PKW member Ryszard Kalisz, called for a recount of the election. Other figures, like Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Trzaskowski's chief of staff or organizations like the Conference of Ambassadors and Committee for the Defence of Democracy also cast doubt on the election results. According to an SW Research poll for Rzeczpospolita from 17–18 June, 49% of the respondents supported a complete recount of the election. However, , the President of the Supreme Court, declared that there is no legal basis for a complete recount of the election, as the recount can only be ruled in stations where irregularities occurred. Following the election, opponents of Nawrocki—including Prime Minister Donald Tusk together with election denialists—attempted to have the Marshal of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, block or postpone the inauguration of Karol Nawrocki as president of Poland by calling an indefinite break during the National Assembly (the joint session of the Sejm and Senat), during Nawrocki's inauguration, after which the Marshal of the Sejm would serve as acting president, which was described by some as an attempt to conduct a coup d'état. Following Hołownia's refusal of the idea, pro-government outlets like Gazeta Wyborcza accused Hołownia of treason against the Constitution. == See also ==
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