Poland: Elections won, unity gone

After right-wing conservative Karol Nawrocki won the presidential election in early June 2025, there were some changes in Poland's political landscape, but there was no unstoppable rise of the far right. Although Nawrocki was able to unite the entire right wing in a close race (ReGA reported on the elections in Poland here), it quickly lost momentum again. This is how Notes from Poland described it in a blog post at the end of December.

On the one hand, Donald Tusk's center-left government immediately took successful action, but on the other hand—and more importantly—the far-right parties quickly fell out with each other. In particular, the dominant PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – Law and Justice) and the surprisingly successful Konfederacja (Confederation) turned against each other.

However, the current rise of Grzegorz Braun's new party, the KKP (Konfederacja Korony Polskiej – Confederation of the Polish Crown), which is to the right of Konfederacja, is cause for concern. Braun had to leave Konfederacja shortly before last year's elections and seems to be benefiting from the disputes on the right with his radical stance. In December, the KKP was at times ahead of the Confederation in the polls as the third strongest party.

ReGA has summarized further background information in a country report on the extreme right in Poland. The AfD recently made headlines by inviting Andrzej Nowak, a historian close to the PiS, to the Bundestag.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch