14 minutes agoShareSaveAdam EastonBBC Warsaw correspondentShareSaveWOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFPWhen Poles vote for a new president on Sunday, they are expected to set up a second round run-off between Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and national-conservative historian Karol Nawrocki.If opinion polls are correct, that would mean a 1 June contest between candidates backed by the two parties that have dominated Polish politics for the past two decades, a domination some voters say they’re fed up with.Trzaskowski, the current front-runner, is deputy leader of prime minister Donald Tusk’s centre-right Civic Platform (PO).Nawrocki, currently polling between 4%-6% behind, is supported by the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition party that lost power 18 months ago.Poland’s president has the power to veto government bills, so what happens in this election is significant.Tusk’s coalition does not have a big enough parliamentary majority to overturn that veto, which outgoing President Andrzej Duda, a former PiS member and ally, has used on several occasions.That barrier may now fall as Duda cannot run again after serving two consecutive five-year terms.Observers outside Poland portrayed Tusk’s election as prime minister in late 2023 as saving liberal democracy after eight years of right-wing authoritarian populism by the PiS-led government.Critics widely accused PiS of turning public media into crude propaganda for its conservative Catholic worldview, politicising the civil service and judiciary and punishing judges who dared to oppose the reform.But Tusk’s coalition government has also used questionable legal methods to wrestle back control of the public media.Tusk has suspended the right for migrants arriving on the border with Belarus to apply for asylum and failed to deliver many of his campaign promises such as liberalising the country’s strict abortion law.”This is not the triumph of liberal values. It’s a choice between a stupid and authoritarian right-wing populism and a hypocritical, and in my eyes, morally corrupt liberal populism,” Konstanty Gebert, a columnist for Kultura Liberalna told the BBC.The presidential election could be won in Sunday’s first round with more than 50% of the vote, but latest opinion polls suggest it will be decided on 1 June.Miroslaw Kaznowski, a member of the Green party that belongs to Tusk’s broader Civic Coalition, will vote for Trzaskowski, despite some reservations.He told the BBC: “I am disappointed the coalition government is pandering to the right-wing electorate instead of standing up for its values.”In one of the presidential debates, the PiS-backed candidate Nawrocki, proudly brandishing a mini Polish flag, tried to embarrass Trzaskowski by handing him a small rainbow flag.In the past, the Warsaw mayor has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and attended equality marches in the capital.Trzaskowski took the flag and put it on the floor, causing left-wing candidate Magdalena Biejat to walk over, saying “I’m not ashamed of it, I’ll gladly take it from you”.Kaznowski said: “Migration, LGBT+, women’s rights and the environment have fallen off the agenda, but we’re still at the risk of falling back to an authoritarian government that aspires to Eastern values.”Getty ImagesTusk promised Polish women legal abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy, but he has not delivered on his promise.He presides over a broad coalition built around his own centre-right grouping that also includes smaller left-wing and conservative parties.Disagreements within the coalition over abortion and legalising same sex partnerships stalled even before President Duda had the chance to veto them.Following Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine, state security has dominated political discourse.Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said “outflanking” PiS on security, including a tough migration policy, was key to winning the 2023 election.Hours before campaigning came to an end on Friday, Tusk accused a group of Russian hackers of attacking websites belonging to parties in the government. Tusk’s Civi …
