Prof. Maciej Drzonek: "Karol Nawrocki has a huge social mandate"

Prof. Maciej Drzonek from the Institute of Political and Security Sciences at the University of Szczecin:

- Many factors determined Karol Nawrocki's victory. The determination with which he pursued his goal was important. This distinguished him from his main competitor. His family helped him in this. From the outside, it looked as if it was not just a PR move. His children and wife seemed convinced of the rightness of what their father and husband were doing. Karol Nawrocki did not fall into the trap of the allegations from the previous Monday - in fact, it is a similar maneuver that was used years ago against Professor Teresa Lubińska during the elections for the mayor of Szczecin. The article was published on the Monday before the elections, if Karol Nawrocki had appealed it in the electoral procedure, the court would have made a decision on Wednesday, and even if it had been favorable, the other side would have appealed, the court would have commented on it on Friday, so the case would have been in the media until the election silence, which was really the point. Karol Nawrocki avoided this, but he immediately filed a civil lawsuit.

Another factor: the government did not sense the public mood. Example: the rejection of the CPK bill. The government is poorly assessed. There has never been a case where a candidate of a poorly assessed government was elected president of the Republic of Poland. Some politicians supporting President Rafał Trzaskowski have been humiliated. We remember the case of potatoes in the Social Welfare Home, or the slogan "what harm does it do to promise?". Even if something is permitted, it does not mean that it is allowed to do it. We are talking at 10:40 on Monday. The new president of the Republic of Poland has already been congratulated by the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as has President Volodomyr Zelensky, and yet he could have had some comments on what Karol Nawrocki said about Ukraine. And the Prime Minister of the Polish government is still wondering how to react...

What will Karol Nawrocki's presidency be like? It's a big unknown. It may be different from previous presidencies for several reasons. Firstly, Karol Nawrocki was not a politician before. Secondly, he has a huge social mandate, in terms of the number of votes cast, he achieved the second result in the history of the Third Polish Republic. Thirdly, those who think that he will be manually controlled by PiS may be very surprised. As for cooperation with the government, I can quote the proverb: "There's a whole mess in it, when two people want it at once." It is not ruled out that the next parliamentary elections will take place earlier than 2027. Does it seem unlikely at the moment? I always tell students: nothing is impossible in politics. ©℗

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