She urged left-wing voters on Tuesday to help prevent what she called a growing threat from the far right.
Biejat, who ran as a candidate for the New Left party and received 4.23 percent of the vote in Sunday's first round, said she would support Trzaskowski, the candidate of the ruling Civic Coalition (KO).
"I have only one vote, and I want to make it clear that I will cast it for Rafał Trzaskowski in the second round," Biejat declared at a news conference.
"I call on all left-wing voters to do the same and join us in putting up a barrier against the far right," she added.
Trzaskowski, the centrist mayor of Warsaw, finished first in the first round with 31.36 percent of the vote. He will face Karol Nawrocki, backed by the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, who won 29.54 percent.
Biejat said she met with Trzaskowski on Monday and described the meeting as "very good, constructive, and substantive."
She said Trzaskowski had made concrete commitments on key progressive issues, including affordable rental housing, public healthcare, support for local governments and women’s rights.
She also noted their "shared hope" that a government-sponsored bill drafted by the Left to significantly increase housing subsidies, would be brought before parliament as soon as possible.
Biejat added that Trzaskowski had reaffirmed his support for liberalizing Poland’s strict abortion laws and legalizing same-sex civil unions—both long-standing demands of the left.
"In an era of a rising far right, and as polls rise for those trying to divide us, it’s essential to stand together,” Biejat said.
"Karol Nawrocki’s candidacy is a threat to everything that matters to left-wing voters and to anyone who wants an open, modern and socially just Poland," she added.
Trzaskowski responded on social media, thanking Biejat for her support and calling it "a sign of responsibility, courage, and shared concern for Poland’s future — a Poland that is fair, modern, and united in solidarity."
While acknowledging policy differences, he wrote: "We share a belief that Poland must be a state of law, equality, and real opportunity for all. We will certainly work together on women’s rights and human rights."
He added: "We discussed the need to liberalize access to abortion and to introduce civil unions—issues Magdalena Biejat has championed for years. On these matters, we are firmly on the same side."
Trzaskowski has also secured the backing of other centrist and moderate-left forces.
On Monday, the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) supported him, along with Szymon Hołownia, leader of the centrist Poland 2050 movement, who won 4.99 percent of the vote in the first round.
Adrian Zandberg, the left-wing opposition Razem party leader who garnered 4.86 percent, has not officially endorsed either candidate.
Meanwhile, Sławomir Mentzen of the far-right Confederation party, who placed third with 14.81 percent, invited both runoff candidates to appear on his YouTube channel.
He said he would ask them to sign a declaration aligning with the expectations of his supporters.
Grzegorz Braun, a controversial far-right figure who finished fourth with 6.34 percent of the vote, has called on Trzaskowski and Nawrocki to declare whether they will "be guided solely by the Polish national interest."
He outlined a list of demands, including pledges not to send Polish troops to Ukraine, to reject the EU migration pact and the European Green Deal, to oppose "compulsory vaccinations," and to address what he described as "institutional lawlessness" during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP