Donald Tusk's party chooses Warsaw mayor as presidential candidate

A day after 22,000 members of Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition party voted in a primary to pick their candidate in next year's presidential election, it was announced that nearly 75% of votes had gone to Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.

Prime Minister Tusk made the announcment at a party gathering on Saturday, with Trzaskowski winning at the expense of Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, who won slightly over 25% of the votes.

Political observers in Poland say Tusk's pro-EU party is already in a strong position ahead of the presidential election, firstly by showing that it had two strong candidates, creating a buzz around the primary and also allowing party members to democratically choose their nominee.

At the party event, Tusk said “We are responsible people, we are responsible for the fate of our homeland today.” He also noted that it is only the start of what is expected to be a tough campaign.

Unlike Civic Coalition, its national-conservative main rival Law and Justice party, known as PiS, will have its candidate handpicked by leader Jarosław Kaczyński.

Commenting on this during his acceptance speech, Trzaskowski said that “In PiS, one vote matters, while we value every vote, and that’s how we differ. I’m convinced that we’re coming out of this election stronger, we’re all stronger, and I have a very strong mandate and a lot of energy, determination and courage to beat PiS.”

Meanwhile, Sikorski congratulated Trzaskowski and promised to offer his support.

Trzaskowski has been an obvious favourite to be the party's candidate for some time, but was recently challenged by Sikorski, who claimed that his own experience in security and defense issues made him the better candidate during a period of war in neighbouring Ukraine and political change in the United States.

The 52-year-old Trzaskowski became mayor of Warsaw in 2018, and has been in charge during a period of rapid change for the city of 2 million, which has absorbed a large number of Ukrainian refugees. He was a candidate for the presidency in 2020, narrowly losing out to incumbent Duda.

President Andrzej Duda will complete his second five-year term in August 2025, and is consitutionally unable to run again.

Donald Tusk has failed to complete a number of his campaign promises as Prime Minister due to President Duda holding veto power over legislation, but also due to opposition within Tusk's own three-party coalition. It will now be a priority for him to have an ally win the presidency in order to be able to fulfill his agenda.

The Civic Coalition is led by Tusk’s party Civic Platform, and also includes smaller parties like the Greens.

The first round of the presidential election is expected to take place in May, with a possible runoff two weeks later if no candidate obtains an outright majority in the first round.