Poles went to bed on Sunday thinking a centre-right candidate had won their presidential election. They woke to find a nationalist populist had squeaked home instead. Karol Nawrocki’s 51-49 per cent victory was wafer-thin, but a bitter reversal. It comes only 18 months after the return of the centrist Donald Tusk as prime minister seemed to open a path to restore democracy and rule of law in Poland after eight years of state capture by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party — which nominated Nawrocki. After right-wing losses in Canada, Australia and Romania, the result also marks a win in the heart of Europe for a candidate endorsed by Donald Trump’s Maga movement.
波兰人在周日晚上入睡时还以为中右翼候选人赢得了总统选举，醒来却发现，最终险胜的是一位民族主义民粹派。卡罗尔•纳夫罗茨基(Karol Nawrocki)以51%对49%的微弱优势获胜，这一结果极为接近，却带来了痛苦的逆转。就在18个月前，中间派的唐纳德•图斯克(Donald Tusk)重返总理职位，似乎为波兰在保守的法律与公正党(PiS)八年掌控国家后恢复民主和法治开辟了道路——而纳夫罗茨基正是该党提名的候选人。在加拿大、澳大利亚和罗马尼亚右翼接连失利后，这一结果也意味着一位获得唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)MAGAmovement支持的候选人在欧洲腹地取得了胜利。