Poland held the first round of its presidential election last night, with liberal Rafał Trzaskowski and conservative Karol Nawrocki now headed to the second round on June 1. Trzaskowski, backed by PM Tusk’s party, Civic Platform (KO), came in first with 31.2 percent, while Nawrocki, backed by Law and Justice (PiS), got 29.7 percent of the vote.
The stakes are high, especially when it comes to attitudes toward Brussels, LGBT, and support for Ukraine, not to mention Poland’s friendship with Germany. The Do Rzeczy news portal highlighted some key comments out of the German press.
Bild called the presidential elections in Poland “a choice of direction that will determine whether the country will turn away from the critical course towards Germany and the EU, personified so far by PiS President Andrzej Duda.” The portal said “a lot of power is at stake,” noting Warsaw mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski’s announcement that he would “continue democratization.”
While the position of president does not hold much power in Germany, Bild wrote that in Poland, the president “not only represents the country externally (but) also has influence on foreign policy, appoints the head of government and the cabinet and is the supreme commander of the Polish armed forces in the event of war.”
Der Spiegel said this election is “a choice of course for Poland – a member of the EU and NATO,” noting that President Duda had done much to block left-wing policies, including a new hate speech law.
“The pro-European head of government Donald Tusk needs the victory of his candidate Trzaskowski to push through its reform projects. The previous president Duda, who came from the ranks of PiS, blocked many projects with his veto,” they wrote.
Tagesschau added to this assessment, stating: “A victory of the pro-European mayor of Warsaw Trzaskowski in the run-off would open the way for reforms of Tusk’s government. In the case of Nawrocki, on the other hand, we can expect a continuation of the policy of the outgoing head of state Andrzej Duda from PiS.”
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