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Poland’s right-wing populist presidential candidate faces global media backlash

29.05.2025 18:30
Karol Nawrocki, the Law and Justice (PiS)-backed candidate for president, has come under intense international scrutiny amid serious allegations linking him to organized crime, neo-Nazi groups, and violent football hooligans, as well as controversial incidents involving a senior citizen’s apartment and procuring sex workers at a hotel where he once worked.
Karol Nawrocki amid a storm of global media coverage sparked by recent allegations against him.
Karol Nawrocki amid a storm of global media coverage sparked by recent allegations against him.Photo: PAP/Piotr Polak/Radio Poland (collage of screenshots from global media outlets)

These revelations have provoked widespread outrage, raising questions about his suitability for the nation’s highest office and stirring fierce debate ahead of the presidential election.

France 24 reported that Nawrocki’s campaign was shaken after Polish news outlet Onet accused him of arranging meetings between hotel guests and sex workers nearly 20 years ago. He denied the claims as “a bunch of lies” and announced plans to sue the news outlet.

German Süddeutsche Zeitung framed the story as “former hooligan versus the mayor of Warsaw,” while the American news outlet Bloomberg highlighted Nawrocki’s dismissal of his controversial past.

The UK's The Telegraph quoted him describing his involvement in football hooligan fights as “noble combat.”

Social media reactions have been heated, with many contrasting Nawrocki’s background against that of his rival Rafał Trzaskowski, an Oxford-educated, multilingual political scientist.

One comment captured the division: “Polish people have to choose between a man who graduated from Oxford, holds a PhD in political science, and speaks five foreign languages (Rafał Trzaskowski), and someone associated with pimps and a neo-Nazi gang, who proudly boasts about participating in hooligan gang fights.

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Source: Onet/France24/sueddeutsche.de/The Telegraph/Bloomberg