“In a deeply polarized society, anything is possible and that is the most fitting answer as to why this is happening,” said Anna Siewierska-Chmaj, a political scientist from the University of Rzeszów.
“These scandals may have actually helped Nawrocki since PiS abandoned the narrative of [his] being a ‘citizens’ candidate’ and closed ranks behind him as a de facto party candidate. This has put the unconvinced PiS voters firmly behind Nawrocki.”
Pulling no punches
Tusk has pulled no punches in combatting Nawrocki, accusing PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński of backing an unsuitable candidate. “You knew about everything, Jarosław. About the connections with the gangsters, about ‘arranging for girls’ … about the apartment fraud and other matters still hidden. The entire responsibility for this catastrophe falls on you!” he wrote on X.
The most serious accusations stem from testimony provided to Polish online portal Onet that Nawrocki had secured prostitutes at a luxury hotel on the Baltic Sea, where he was working for security. A member of parliament from Tusk’s party then appeared on television to vouch for the report. “I have knowledge that all the information presented … in the Onet article is simply true,” said Agnieszka Pomaska, who represents Gdańsk, the city on the Baltic Sea where the alleged offences took place.
Nawrocki emphatically denies the accusations, says he will sue Onet over the report, and is hitting back hard against Tusk and Trzaskowski. “Today in Poland the problem is political prostitution, which wants to give Poland away for foreign money … Media assistants of Tusk and Trzaskowski will not take away our victory!” he wrote on X.
Conversely, when it comes to suggestions he was involved in mass brawls involving as many as 140 football hooligans, far from pushing back Nawrocki has embraced the notion, playing up his pedigree as a boxer and saying he took part in “sporting, noble fights.”
