Poland’s Ruling Party Nominates Trzaskowski as Presidential Candidate for 2025 Polish Presidency

Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, has emerged victorious in a primary contest to become the Civic Coalition party’s candidate for Poland’s presidential elections in May 2025. Trzaskowski decisively defeated Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, securing nearly 75% of the vote from 22,000 members of the party.

The outcome of this primary marks an important step for Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party as they prepare for a critical presidential race. Trzaskowski’s candidacy sets the stage for a high-stakes contest, one that could potentially unlock Tusk’s stalled reform agenda, which has been blocked by outgoing President Andrzej Duda. Since Tusk’s Civic Coalition ousted the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party from power in December, Duda, a PiS ally, has used his position to block key bills and prevent Tusk’s government from replacing PiS-appointed judges and ambassadors.

For Trzaskowski, this will be his second attempt to win the presidency after a narrow loss to Duda in 2020. The 52-year-old mayor, a staunch advocate for LGBTQ rights and progressive policies, has gained significant popularity among younger voters, which played a key role in Tusk’s party’s success during last year’s parliamentary elections, when voter turnout reached a record 74%. On Saturday, Trzaskowski promised to “wake up Poland” ahead of the May election, vowing, “I have a lot of energy to win against PiS.”

Meanwhile, the PiS party, which is expected to announce its presidential candidate on Sunday, is poised to face a tough race. Pre-election opinion polls suggest that the Civic Coalition candidate, likely to be Trzaskowski, would defeat PiS in the second round of voting. However, much will depend on which candidate can attract support from the other contenders after the first round of voting.

Among other notable candidates, Szymon Hołownia, leader of the Poland 2050 party, which is a member of Tusk’s coalition, is running for president, as is far-right candidate Sławomir Mentzen from the Confederation party. PiS, however, will not hold primaries, leaving the choice of their nominee largely in the hands of long-time party leader Jarosław Kaczyński.

Trzaskowski’s victory in the primary came after a late challenge from Sikorski, who campaigned on a platform of national security, tougher migration controls, and a hardline stance on Poland’s historical grievances with Germany and Ukraine regarding World War II atrocities. Trzaskowski’s decisive win reflects a clear preference within the Civic Coalition for a more moderate and inclusive candidate.

After the primary, Tusk congratulated Trzaskowski and reminded party members that the real battle lies ahead. “We all know that this is the first step, that nobody will give our candidate anything for free. We will have to fight for every vote, convince every Polish woman, every Polish man until the last day of the election,” he said.