The pivotal Polish presidential election will be held in May next year, and according to one Law and Justice MP, if the left-liberal candidate loses, it could herald the collapse of Donald Tusk’s ruling government.
“There is such a huge chance because today’s coalition partners do not want to take huge responsibility for the madness of Tusk, Bodnar and others. Karol Nawrocki’s victory will mean that they will not have the possibility to close the system, and then this system will simply fall apart,” said Przemysław Czarnek, a member of parliament from Law and Justice and former Minister of Education, told Polsat News on the “Graffiti” television program.
Of course, Czarnek has motive to make such a claim, as Nawrocki belongs to his party. However, it is likely true that a victory from Nawrocki could spell trouble for the coalition and put a major barrier up for Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his legislative agenda. Currently, Andrzej Duda holds the presidency, and his position serves as nearly the only check on Tusk’s powers at the current time.
Czarnek continued by saying that ” [Nawrocki’s] victory will completely change the image of the political scene. It means that people who are starting to complain today that they are in the coalition on Dec. 13, who talk about the lack of trust, who say that the services are being engaged, it means that these people know that legitimizing lawlessness, legitimizing the regression of Poland.”
Since PiS announced that Nawrocki has become the party’s presidential candidate, he has already been targeted with accusations that he had associations with Polish neo-Nazis. Czarnek rejects these reports.
“I have known Karol Nawrocki for several years, and I can honestly say that I 100 percent vouch for his honesty and integrity,” he said, adding, “Nawrocki was examined by the security services in 2021 and was given access to the highest state secrets.”
“Let them dig deeper. We know Karol Nawrocki and it will only do us good,” he said.
Nawrocki is the head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), but previously, he was a boxer and a club bouncer, and may have had contacts with some of the rougher sides of Polish society. However, these is no evidence he ever committed any crimes.
Czarnek noticed that different people meet in the boxing ring, and they are usually not professors and academics.
“I expect that in the ring you don’t fight with university professors and doctors, but with various people who are later like this or like that. Such is the sport and such are the meetings there. However, nothing comes of it,” he said.
Czarnek was considered as a presidential candidate but will not be running.
“I did not want to be a candidate for president, but when I was told at the beginning of October, specifically by the president, that I should be taken into consideration because I had a good chance, such a train only comes once,” he said.
The guest of the “Graffiti” program admitted that when it turned out that he would not be the presidential candidate, his family breathed a sigh of relief. Czarnek added that the upcoming campaign will be “very strong, maybe even brutal.”
