Poland’s Ruling Party Sets Up Contest for Presidential Candidate
(Bloomberg) -- Poland’s ruling Civic Coalition will hold a primary vote within the coming month to decide whether Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski or Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will be its candidate for president in next year’s election.
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The vote is likely to take place on Nov. 23 and the result will be announced Dec. 7 in Gliwice, a city in the industrial region of Silesia, Prime Minister and party leader Donald Tusk said on Saturday.
Tusk’s coalition took power late last year, vowing to bring Poland back toward the European mainstream after eight turbulent years of nationalist rule. But it has struggled to overcome opposition to its legislative agenda from President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the former government whose term ends in August 2025.
As president, Duda can veto legislation as well as appoint heads of judicial bodies. The president also helps shape foreign policy, representing the country in contacts with other nations and organizations such as NATO and the United Nations.
“I will work together with the future president and will need mature cooperation,” considering the risks, including the war in neighboring Ukraine, Tusk said.
Trzaskowski lost to Duda by a narrow margin in 2020, securing more than 10 million votes. That was the third best result in terms of absolute numbers obtained by a candidate in presidential elections organized in Poland since 1989.
Rival Campaigns
The Warsaw mayor, who served as European Union Affairs Minister under Tusk’s previous administration and is known for his liberal views regarding women rights and the LGBTQ community, has been long seen as a natural frontrunner to become a candidate again.
But in recent weeks, Sikorski has emerged as a rival, setting in motion an intense campaign including several town hall meetings across the country, lectures, question and answer sessions and media interviews.
Sikorski defines himself as an expert in foreign and security policy, pointing to his career, which took him from a reporter covering wars in Afghanistan and Angola under communism to holding governmental posts as defense minister and subsequently foreign minister.
However, an online poll carried out by SW Research between Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, with 800 respondents, showed that 29% thought Trzaskowski was the candidate better equipped to handle security issues, compared with 26% for Sikorski.
The Left Party and Third Way, itself an alliance of two parties, all allies of Tusk in government, have yet to announce their candidates. The opposition Law & Justice Party also hasn’t yet decided on whom it will put forward.
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