Four months past the presidential election I can confess in the run-off I voted for Mr Trzaskowski with some disgust. With no doubts, aware that my vote was primarily against Mr Nawrocki, driven my common sense. My disgust reached its peak when he prematurely announced his victory based on exit polls, giving him a tiny lead, far below the error margin of 2 percentage points. In the next days, along with over 10 million of voters I imploded into a short mourning, but got over it quickly. Two days after his defeat Mr Trzaskowski returned to his office and carried on as a mayor of Warsaw. He did what residents of the capital had given him a mandate to do, focused on running the city and kept away from country-wide politics, especially from the dispute on allegedly rigged election.
With time I Mr Trzaskowski has evolved in my mind to man being a class of his own. My disgust has faded away and has given way to a strong sense of a properly fulfilled duty. In retrospect, I am strongly convinced I voted for the most suitable candidate.
Mr Trzaskowski, though active as a mayor of Warsaw, shunned interviews with journalists until 26 September 2025, when he faced a (belated) barrage of questions from media representatives and youngsters. I have also watched it belatedly, however recommend you sacrifice 80 minutes of your precious time to listen or watch the interview in which Mr Trzaskowski was not spared inconvenient questions.
A mature man is capable of conceding his defeat, admitting mistakes he has made and learning from them. This is what Mr Trzaskowski is like. He appears wiser than his political entourage and most of his voters. He correctly urges not to bridle at reality nor to antagonise those who voted for his rival. Poking fun at Mr Nawrocki, as Mr Trzaskowski points out, is counterproductive and only solidifies the current presidents’ hangers-on. Mr Nawrocki’s victory (the scale of irregularities,which by all means ought to be sorted out, would not have brought his score below 50.6%) embodies what majority of Poles have opted for. We need to face the music, realise what has led to such choice and get our act together to minimise the number of seats in the parliament right-wing parties garner in the parliamentary election in 2027.
Mr Trzaskowski gently distances himself from the government, whose ineptitude was one of crucial drivers of his defeat, however calls for unity if the democratic coalition is not to succumb to right-wing opponents.
At the end, when addressing adolescents, he implores them not to break down, warrants not to lick wounds. No one will turn back time, we need to move ahead, pull up sleeves and build modern and tolerant Poland and stem the nationalist flood.
Mr Trzaskowski is not a spick-and-span handsome chap from a picture. He is flesh and bones. His elections staff and political entourage have got it wrong several times during the campaign, Mr Trzaskowski himself has not made any fundamental mistake. The more time lapses from the election, the more I realise a candidate being a symbol of liberal-leftist elites could not stand a chance to win the presidential election is a conservative country in times when the entire world is swerving right. His score of 49% is an accomplishment I am putting down to a his repulsive rival, abhorrent enough to mobilise liberal and leftist electorate to vote against him.
