One march rallied behind Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a centrist candidate supported by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European government.
The other aimed to galvanise support for conservative contender Karol Nawrocki, backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023.
"All of Poland is watching us; all of Europe is watching us; the whole world is watching us," Trzaskowski told supporters at the rally.
Trzaskowski narrowly beat Nawrocki in the first round of voting on May 18, but is struggling to maintain his lead, according to recent polls.
Nawrocki’s voters gathered separately in the capital, voicing support for his pledge to align Poland more closely with the policies of US President Donald Trump, the Reuters news agency reported.
“I am the voice of those whose concerns go unheard by Donald Tusk; the voice of those who don’t want Polish schools turned into places of ideology, our agriculture destroyed, or our freedoms taken away," Nawrocki told the crowd on Sunday.
Around 140,000 people attended the pro-Trzaskowski march, while Nawrocki's rally drew some 50,000 participants, Polish state news agency PAP reported, citing unofficial preliminary estimates from city authorities.
Speaking at Trzaskowski’s rally, newly elected Romanian President Nicușor Dan pledged to work closely with both Trzaskowski and Tusk "to ensure Poland and the European Union remain strong."
Dan’s unexpected victory in a vote on May 18 over hard-right Trump ally George Simion was welcomed by EU leaders in Brussels and other European capitals, including Warsaw.
Trzaskowski and Nawrocki on Friday squared off in a televised debate, marking a key moment ahead of the high-stakes second-round vote.
Tusk said in a media interview last week that Trzaskowski could lose the runoff unless pro-democracy voters turn out in large numbers.
He framed the election as a moral choice, describing Nawrocki as "the last person in public life" who should be seeking the presidency.
Nawrocki has come under scrutiny over alleged ties to the criminal underworld, past associations with football hooligans and accusations that he lied about a morally questionable deal through which he acquired an apartment from an elderly man.
Tusk’s centrist, pro-EU coalition—victorious in the October 2023 parliamentary elections after eight years of PiS rule—aims to consolidate its power by winning the presidency.
The current conservative president, Andrzej Duda, who was first elected in 2015, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. His mandate ends on August 6.
The winner of the runoff will serve a five-year term as head of state, overseeing foreign and defence policy and holding veto power over legislation.
Polish presidential candidates Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki. Photos: PAP/Paweł Topolski/Paweł Supernak
Trzaskowski, a political scientist specialising in European studies, has served as mayor of Warsaw since October 2018 and was re-elected last year.
He was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2013, Poland’s administration and digitisation minister from 2013 to 2014, and deputy foreign minister from 2014 to 2015.
He previously ran for president in 2020, narrowly losing to Duda.
Nawrocki heads the Institute of National Remembrance, a state-run agency tasked with documenting and prosecuting Nazi and Soviet crimes against Polish citizens.
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Source: IAR, PAP, TVP, Reuters