Tens of thousands of people rallied in central Warsaw on Sunday, May 25, in rival demonstrations for the two candidates in Poland's presidential election on June 1. Warsaw's pro-EU mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who is backed by Poland's centrist government, led a "Great March of Patriots" to Constitution Square. Nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki's "March for Poland" was due to end up at Castle Square in Warsaw's Old Town.
Nawrocki's supporters sang patriotic and religious songs and held up signs calling for an end to immigration. "I am Polish and so I am voting for a candidate who will guarantee our future and act as a counterbalance to the current government," said Piotr Slaby, a financial sector worker from the city of Przemysl in southeastern Poland. Piotr Nowak, a technician from Warsaw, 41, said: "We have a cosmopolitan government. They want to introduce the euro and we will lose our sovereignty."
Opinion polls are predicting a dead heat, with both candidates on 46.3%. Trzaskowski, 53, won the first round of the election on May 18 by a razor-thin margin, getting 31% against 30% for 42-year-old Nawrocki.
An overall victory for Trzaskowski in the election would be a major boost for the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The former European Council president has been at loggerheads with the current nationalist president, Andrzej Duda, since coming to power in 2023.
A win for Nawrocki – a fan of US President Donald Trump – would probably extend the political deadlock in the Central European country of 38 million people. Experts predict this could lead to fresh parliamentary elections.
A Nawrocki victory could also chip away at Poland's steadfast support for Ukraine, as he opposes NATO membership for Ukraine and has denounced the benefits given to the one million Ukrainian refugees in Poland. At the Trzaskowski rally, many supporters could be seen waving European Union and LGBTQ flags.
Romanian president-elect Nicusor Dan, a pro-EU centrist who is due to be sworn in on Monday in his country, also attended the Trzaskowki march. Dan won a tense election this month against nationalist rival George Simion, who had campaigned against the EU's "absurd policies" and wanted to cut aid to Ukraine.
Trzaskowski, who is married with two children, has vowed to campaign for women's rights and legalize abortion in the predominantly Catholic country, which has a near-total ban on the procedure.