WARSAW, POLAND – JUNE 01: Karol Nawrocki, presidential candidate of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), gestures as he arrives with his family to cast his ballot at a polling station during the Polish presidential runoff election on June 01, 2025 in Warsaw, Poland. Today’s election is a closely contested race between Nawrocki and Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw who is supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The election is seen as a test of whether the government, with its centrist parliamentary coalition, can overcome the right-wing populism embodied by PiS. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Nationalist Karol Nawrocki, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, clinched the Polish presidency in a tight run-off race that spells trouble for the country’s current pro-EU government.
A final count showed Nawrocki, who stood for the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party that lost its majority in 2023, secured 50.89% of votes against the 49.11% of rival Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. Early results released before polls closed had put the liberal in the lead.
Nawrocki will succeed fellow conservative Andrzej Duda — who himself won the leadership with a razor-thin advantage against Trzaskowski in 2020 — for a five-year term and can then stand for re-election once.
The Polish election was closely watched in Europe, the United States and battling Eastern European neighbors Russia and Ukraine as it raises questions over the solidity of Warsaw’s future alignment with Brussels and Kyiv.
The head of state’s role in Poland is overshadowed by that of parliament, but the president retains a critical veto over legislation. Duda has exercised this to block several reforms spearheaded by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition.
Eurosceptic Nawrocki can likewise deliver considerable setbacks to former European Council President Tusk’s pro-EU government, which repaired fractured relations with Brussels and last year unlocked payments of up to 137 billion euros ($156 billion) of EU funds that had been frozen over rule-of-law concerns.
The country of 37 million and the EU’s sixth-largest economy was the largest net beneficiary of EU funds in 2024.
“I’m confident that the EU will continue its very good cooperation with Poland. We are all stronger together in our community of peace, democracy, and values,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday on the X social media platform. “So let us work to ensure the security and prosperity of our common home.”
A previously staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion to date, Poland has offered extensive security and logistical aid to Kyiv and earlier in January assumed the rotating one-year EU presidency from the Kremlin’s chief European ally Hungary under the motto “Security, Europe!”
Nawrocki has taken a more critical stance toward Kyiv during his campaign, citing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s alleged poor treatment…
Read More: Trump-backed nationalist clinches Poland’s presidency
