The presidential race is launched in Poland. According to the latest estimates, it should be played between the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski and the independent candidate Karol Nawrocki.
Eleven candidates will present themselves in the first round of the Polish presidential election which will take place on May 18. A vote that could have major consequences for the government coalition in power in Poland.
The outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, from the conservative opposition Law and Justice party, has reached the authorized number of mandates and cannot therefore run again.
According to the latest polls, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski is currently the favorite in the first round.
Its main competitor is Karol Nawrocki, a candidate running as an independent but supported by the Law and Justice party and who currently heads the Polish Institute of National Memory.
Sławomir Mentzen, from the right-wing Konfederatsia party, comes third voting intentions, but the race should be between the two favorites according to estimates.
Pro-EU candidate against Eurosceptic
So far, the main themes of the campaign are the right to abortion, civil partnerships, the rule of law and security.
This last point is particularly important in the context of the war in Ukraine and while Poland has began his rotating presidency of the EU under the theme of European defense.
Rafał Trzaskowski’s party, the Civic Coalition, is described as a centrist and pro-European party, while the Law and Justice party which supports Karol Nawrocki is clearly more skeptical of the European Union.
During the last presidential election in 2020, Rafał Trzaskowski narrowly lost to incumbent president Andrzej Duda.
That year, more than 10 million Poles voted for each of the two candidates. Only Lech Walesa, the first Polish president elected after the fall of communism, received more votes.
In the absence of an absolute majority in the first round on May 18, a second round between the two leading candidates will take place on June 1.
