Presidential Elections: Expert Commentary

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

– The result of the first two candidates does not surprise me. It is a consequence of trends that I have analyzed in polls. During this campaign, an American company entered the Polish market, which showed almost exactly the same result that we can observe today – except that Karol Nawrocki was slightly ahead of Rafał Trzaskowski. Grzegorz Braun's result is a surprise and an apparent paradox. It is clear that PiS and Konfederacja politicians, running together, would have a majority. But they do not do this, because the human factor is also important in politics. Let's put it this way: some prefer to run around with a fire extinguisher, others – to build CPK.

The right is gaining not only in Poland, but also in Europe – against the interests of elites, usually left-liberal. Some politicians may think that voters can be controlled by algorithms, artificial intelligence, and this is of course a factor that must be taken into account, but voters have their own minds. And they can find information, for example, about the ETS system, which affects high electricity prices.

I see great satisfaction in the statements of PiS politicians. Meanwhile, many of them lack self-reflection on what their share in Karol Nawrocki's success is. I also lacked this self-reflection in PiS after the party lost power in 2023. Meanwhile, it was primarily Karol Nawrocki who did a huge amount of work that gave him a good result. He and his family. They presented themselves to voters as a well-coordinated team. The issue of the studio apartment clearly harmed him, because if it weren't for it, I am convinced that he would have won the first round. But it did not sink his candidacy, among other things, because we have no trace of Mr. Jerzy - whom Karol Nawrocki allegedly wronged - complaining in any way about Karol Nawrocki, signaling anywhere that he had been treated illegally. And he had many years to do so. Portals, newspapers and television stations unfavorable to Karol Nawrocki overheated the topic. And attacking his son was a complete exaggeration. Poles don't like such things. ©℗

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