Will Trzaskowski lose the election? Tusk appeals for mobilization as in 2023
If the democratic side is not as mobilized as in October 2023, the KO candidate Rafał Trzaskowski will lose these elections; if it is - he will win - Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday on TVN24.
The Prime Minister was asked about the latest Opinia24 poll, in which, when asked "which candidate do you feel closest to?", 47% of respondents chose Karol Nawrocki supported by PiS, 45% - Rafał Trzaskowski, while 8% of respondents chose the option "I don't know".
The Prime Minister, referring to the poll, said that the approaching second round of the presidential elections is a real test for voters. "Regardless of how hard the candidates try, regardless of their characteristics, regardless of the commitments they make at the end of the elections, this is a real test for voters (...) In fact, it will probably depend less on the mobilization of the candidates themselves and much more on the mobilization of all of us," Tusk assessed.
The Prime Minister stressed that "we must regain the awareness that accompanied us in October 2023, that the stakes are very high". "If this side - let's call it +democratic+ - if it is not as mobilized as in October, then Rafał Trzaskowski will lose, if it is as mobilized - he will win" - he said.
At the same time, he stressed that "this 50/50 division is not a division into worse and better, but into different political attitudes."
Tusk on the work of the government: We have achieved too much to waste itTusk was asked on Thursday on TVN24 what he would say before the second round of the presidential election to voters disappointed with the performance of his government so far.
"Let everyone open their eyes wide, let everyone see honestly what has happened over the past year and a half, who worked like an ox to fulfill what they promised, who hindered as much as they could, how many things have improved, and how Poland has changed in this most important matter. Poland is once again a country of free citizens; over the past year and a half it has shaken off fear, omnipresent corruption, lies - these are the most important values," he said.
"How much has been achieved - too little for me to be happy, but too much to waste. How much faster, how much easier it would be to deliver these postulates and commitments if the authorities in Poland were coherent. (...) It is difficult to govern in a country where the president is focused solely on harm, in every matter - whether it is the nomination of ambassadors, women's rights, restoring judicial independence, etc.," Tusk listed.
As he said, "we all have to pass this test". "This is a question of war and peace - what is currently being prepared on the Russian-Ukrainian border, how Putin is trying to deceive the entire West (...) Russia is determined to wage war, and to do so more and more intensively" - added the prime minister.
"We have come down to the simplest dimension of politics: evil and good"When asked about Poles' expectations towards the government and the president, Tusk emphasized: "I know what happened in 2023 and why people with conservative views, devout Catholics, the left, even the radical left (...) all went to vote together and removed PiS from power - because they were fed up with the evil that was spreading in Poland, because sometimes politics has the simplest dimension."
"In reality (politics) always has such a dimension, only rarely is it so clear. (...) This malicious cackle of Kaczyński's that I gave you such a guy who will humiliate Poland and humiliate you all, shows that we have once again reduced ourselves to the simplest dimension of politics: evil and good, human rights-violence, war and peace, chaos-order, unequivocal pro-Western and European policy or maneuvering between Russia and the West," said the head of government.
The Prime Minister emphasized that "in every issue it is about the most important things". Young people - as he assessed - "want serious leaders, serious politicians who will provide them with good conditions for development, real freedom, real respect, real awe and security". "I am doing everything to make this happen. Some help, some hinder" - he added.
Tusk: If Nawrocki wins, we may face 2.5 years of "struggle""Imagine Poland, in this rather dramatic context, which will once again be a country ruled by a government constantly blocked by Kaczyński's envoy. We have to call it by its name - Mr. Nawrocki hired by Kaczyński to wage war against the Polish government. They are not hiding it," Tusk said on Thursday on TVN24.
He assessed that if Nawrocki wins the presidential election, "we will have two and a half years until the next parliamentary elections, instead of marching forward, instead of building Poland's full security in solidarity, some kind of brawl."
"I guess I don't need to use my imagination much and I don't even need to be questioned about how I imagine these two and a half years, because the easiest thing to say is that it's a choice between war and peace. And I'm not talking about the war in Ukraine now, but about what may await us - again, a much more serious version of this political civil war and increasing paralysis," assessed the head of government. He added that "all these are deadly threats to Poland, when Russia may be preparing for a deadly attack on Ukraine."
Tusk said at the same time: "I will not organize a coup d'état". "I want to plan and I am currently planning for Poland under the rule of Rafał Trzaskowski, as president and the October 15 coalition in the parliament and government, because I am really positive," assured the prime minister.
PiS-supported presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki signed a declaration prepared by Mentzen on Thursday, with postulates that the Confederation leader claimed were important to his voters. One of the points was an assurance that Nawrocki, as president, would not sign a potential law that would ratify Ukraine's admission to the North Atlantic Alliance.
"If a presidential candidate in Poland, who - in fact only to curry favor with Mr. Mentzen in one broadcast - says that Poland will never agree to Ukraine in NATO - then there is no better term for what he did than high treason," Prime Minister Donald Tusk assessed on Thursday on TVN24. He added that "this is one of the biggest scandals of this campaign."
"This is fundamental from the point of view of Poland's security. The last thing Poland should do is to implement or support Putin's postulates, and this was his first postulate, not for Ukraine in NATO. This was, in a sense, the reason for this war," Tusk emphasized.
"If Putin says so, then of course it is a demand from Russia, which wants to have a subordinate Ukraine. If US President Donald Trump says so, then the task of Europe - Poland in the first place - is to convince President Trump and the US administration +be more pro-Ukrainian, because we know Russia and we know what it is capable of+" - he pointed out.
The Prime Minister also assessed: "there were few issues where it was possible to build full consensus, full solidarity between the late President Lech Kaczyński and me when I was Prime Minister". "It was more of a conflict and political confrontation. But on the issue of Ukraine and its sovereignty, its pro-Western position and NATO membership, there was full agreement. He was a promoter of this idea in general" - he noted.
As he assessed, "when people find out that Nawrocki is now questioning and throwing one of the most important positive decisions of Lech Kaczyński into the trash bin", it will be a problem for the candidate supported by PiS.
Tusk repeated that Poland would not send its soldiers to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission and "no one expects us to". "We handled it so immediately, skillfully, and it did not raise any doubts, even with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. I said: you know how many tasks we have here - we protect the border with Russia, the border with Belarus, and Polish soldiers must be here, that we are organizing the largest logistics hub and transfer of support to Ukraine - this is what we do, that's it" - stated the prime minister.
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