AFP
Warsaw
Conservative opposition challenger Andrzej Duda has won a surprise victory in Poland’s presidential run-off, trumping incumbent centrist Bronislaw Komorowski with promises of change and generous social spending.
An MEP and lawyer with a populist streak, Duda scored 51.55% support ahead of Komorowski, final poll results showed yesterday.
The result is a stunning turnaround from expectations only a few weeks ago and gives a key indicator of the national mood ahead of an autumn parliamentary election in the heavyweight central European nation.
A former defence minister who has been president since 2010, the 62-year-old Komorowski is allied with the PO, the governing centrist Civic Platform party.
“Poles want change. They issued a yellow card to the PO and risk issuing the party a red card at the general election,” wrote Poland’s Polska The Times daily yesterday.
“PO politicians are used to governing. Power for them is not a duty but a privilege. They have just been dealt a lesson,” added the conservative Rzeczpospolita daily.
Analysts said voters hungry for change in the EU and Nato member state could in this year’s parliamentary polls return the controversial Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party to power after eight years.
“Those who voted for me, voted for change. Together we can change Poland,” the PiS-backed Duda, 43, said to wild applause at his Warsaw campaign headquarters.
Komorowski was quick to concede defeat and said his loss was also a warning signal to his political allies in government.
“I congratulate my rival, Mr Andrzej Duda and I wish him a successful presidency because I wish Poland well,” he told supporters in Warsaw.
The country’s powerful Roman Catholic Church also congratulated Duda, with whom it shares an opinion on certain social issues.
“Duda’s victory signals a dramatic change on the Polish political scene,” legendary communist-era dissident Adam Michnik said, warning that a potential victory of Kaczynski’s PiS in parliament could mean that “Poland embarks on a velvet road to dictatorship”.
Kaczynski gained a reputation for being highly combative and eurosceptic during his 2006-7 stint as prime minister.
He served in tandem with his late twin brother Lech Kaczynski, who died in a 2010 plane crash in Russia.
The 65-year-old Jaroslaw Kaczynski then ran against Komorowski in the 2010 presidential election. Having lost, he floated Duda as candidate this time around.
The Polish president has limited powers but is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, steers foreign policy and has the right to introduce and veto legislation.
Duda has called for Nato to station its troops on Polish soil, amid heightened tensions with Soviet-era master Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
He has been less enthusiastic about Poland entering the eurozone, which he believes Warsaw should only do once the European single currency has solved all its debt woes.
Duda will take up his new office in August.
Given his close affiliation with Kaczynski and the PiS, Duda’s cohabitation with the PO government of Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz is expected to be difficult.
The largely lacklustre campaign for the presidential race focused on security and social issues and saw Komorowski’s initially strong lead melt away.
Duda gained steam on promises of generous social spending as well as lowering taxes and the retirement age, measures that analysts say Poland can ill afford.
Despite consistent economic growth, high long-term unemployment has limited opportunities for young Poles and drained the government’s popularity.
“I voted for Duda because I want change,” Wieslawa Lorenc, 46, told AFP. “The retirement age just isn’t right. Miners, nurses, teachers, they’re not earning enough.”
Komorowski won backing from Polish-born former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and a bevy of actors and athletes.
Some supporters said they simply wanted to avoid an “unpredictable” PiS presidency.
“With a very heavy heart, I voted for Komorowski,” Warsaw voter Alicja, 34, told AFP.
She had backed the anti-establishment rock star Pawel Kukiz in the first round to protest against the “lack of opportunity for young people on the job market”.
Poland, a country of 38mn people, has avoided recession over the last quarter of a century.
The economy is set to expand by 3.5% this year, but joblessness is still high and stood at 11.3% in April.
Voter turnout on Sunday hit a high 56%.
Komorowski: aid his loss was a warning signal to his political allies in government.
