Who is the newly elected president of Poland, Karol Nawrocki?!
The conservative candidate defeated liberal Rafał Trzaskowski by a narrow margin of 50.89% of the vote in Sunday's presidential election runoff. Karol Nawrocki is set to become Poland's next president after a tense runoff against liberal candidate Rafał Trzaskowski on Sunday.
The conservative politician has vowed to thwart the centrist, pro-EU ambitions of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government for the remainder of its term. Here are the most essential facts to know about Poland's newly elected conservative president.
Born in Gdańsk, Nawrocki received a degree in history from the University of Gdańsk in 2008, followed by a doctorate in 2013. He also holds an international MBA from the Gdańsk University of Technology, which he received in 2023.
During his presidential campaign, Nawrocki's critics questioned his role as head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), an organization tasked with investigating and prosecuting Nazi and Communist crimes between 1917 and 1990, which gave him access to key state secrets, including those classified under special security provisions.
Nawrocki began working at the IPN in 2009. He took a four-year leave, during which he served as director of the World War II Museum in Gdańsk. In 2021, he returned to the IPN as president. The assessment was ultimately overturned by the agency’s then-head, an appointee of the Law and Justice party, or PiS, and an advisor to former President Andrzej Duda. PiS argued that the permit was valid.
In 2024 he was put on a list of Polish citizens wanted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs due to his presence at the dismantling of the Red Army Gratitude Monument in Glubczyce in 2022.
A candidate supported by PiS, Nawrocki's political views are described as conservative and right-wing. During the election campaign, he opposed mandatory vaccinations for both adults and children. He has also opposed Ukraine's membership in NATO and the European Union until outstanding bilateral issues with its neighbor are resolved.
Nawrocki's election plan included, among other things, a promise not to raise taxes and a reduction in VAT. Other promises included the introduction of a zero income tax relief for families with at least two children, tax-free inheritance, and the abolition of the Belka tax. Nawrocki supports nuclear energy, but maintains that, until Poland has its own nuclear power plant, coal should continue to be mined and used.
"I say a clear no to this. Until Poland reaches nuclear power, Polish coal must be mined, supplied and developed by the Republic of Poland. Hands off Polish coal until we reach the atom," he said at a rally in Pajęczno in March. "By rejecting green ideology, green taxes and the EU ETS, and through the extraction of Polish coal, we will finally start paying normal electricity prices ," he added.
Military defense and recruitment
Nawrocki supported voluntary conscription during his presidential campaign. During a presidential debate, he argued that Poland is not currently in a situation that should require compulsory conscription.
"I will be the president of a secure Poland in which military recruitment should be voluntary. It is necessary to build a strong and modern Polish army, at least 300,000 soldiers, with strong alliances, but it must remain voluntary, which is fundamental for me as well ," Nawrocki said.
In his speech in Pajęczno, he reiterated that he would seek to expand the army. " Poland will be secure when it is militarily secure and has at least a Polish army of 300,000 troops and a million reservists. This is what I will do and what I will achieve as supreme commander of the armed forces," Nawrocki said.
On May 22, he signed a program statement prepared by the leader of the far-right Konfederacja or Confederation party, Sławomir Mentzen, which consists of eight demands. Nawrocki has stated that as president he would not sign laws restricting, among other things, freedom of expression and access to weapons.
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