The outcome of the presidential race will significantly impact whether Poland aligns itself with the EU’s leading nations or moves towards isolation along with other populist-led countries in Central Europe, such as Hungary and Slovakia.
Throughout the eight-year rule of PiS, the party clashed with the EU and other allies over attempts to politicize the judiciary, curb LGBTQ+ rights, tighten abortion laws, and use state funds for party interests. Nonetheless, it channeled substantial financial resources to poorer citizens and made people in smaller towns and villages feel that their conservative values mattered.
Is the president important?
The role of Poland’s president is mostly ceremonial—residing in a luxurious palace, endorsing appointments for professors, generals, and ambassadors, and acting as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, although the government, not the president, determines foreign and military policy. The president can propose laws.
However, the president possesses considerable power, albeit in a negative sense. A president can veto bills, which can only be overridden with a three-fifths parliamentary majority—a threshold no party currently holds in Poland’s politically fragmented environment. The president can also refer legislation to the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court, akin to a veto.
Rafał Trzaskowski, 53, is a seasoned politician with experience as a minister and a term in the European Parliament. | Andrzej Jackowski/EFE via EPA
In 2010, Tusk highlighted the job’s benefits: “honors, chandeliers, a palace and a veto.”
President Duda, backed by PiS, has obstructed much of Tusk’s legislative goals, causing increased dissatisfaction among his supporters and contributing to the government’s gradual decline in public support.
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