The battle between Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will be over who can attract voters who opted for one of the minor candidates in the first round. Trzaskowski will be fishing among the backers of centrist and left-wing candidates, while Nawrocki will be hoping to lure the supports of far-right Sławomir Mentzen, who came third with 15.4 percent.
“I want to address one of the candidates, Sławomir Mentzen. This is the time to save Poland. We both want a sovereign, strong, rich and secure Poland,” Nawrocki said in a speech after the polls closed.
Szymon Hołownia, the speaker of parliament, ran for the center-right Poland 2050 and took 4.8 percent of the vote, while Magdalena Biejat was the candidate of the Left, winning 4.1 percent. Both parties are in the Tusk-led ruling coalition. In the run-up to Sunday’s vote, the two avoided unleashing damaging attacks against Trzaskowski.
“Trzaskowski is now likely to send some conciliatory signals to candidates like Szymon Hołownia or Magdalena Biejat,” Rydliński said.
But in a warning for Trzaskowski, and a potential signal of broader dissatisfaction with Tusk’s government, Grzegorz Braun, a far-right antisemitic candidate best known for using a fire extinguisher to douse a Jewish menorah in the Polish parliament, placed a surprisingly strong fourth at 6.2 percent. Adrian Zandberg, with the far-left Together party that is not part of Tusk’s coalition, came fifth with 5.2 percent.
Taken together, the candidates who oppose Tusk did better than those from parties supporting the government, meaning Trzaskowski will have a steep slope to climb to win on June 1.
“The game for everything is just beginning. A hard fight for every vote. These two weeks will decide the future of our country. Therefore, not a step backward,” Tusk posted on X.
This article has been updated.