Although largely absent at the start of her husband’s race, the 39-year-old civil servant stepped up in the final weeks, visiting orphanages, cooking pierogi with rural women’s clubs and posting videos of herself roller-skating and mountain-running. Asked on TV Republika about the job ahead, she replied: “I’m not a politician – one in the family is enough.”
Barbara Brodzińska-Mirowska, a political scientist at Nicolaus Copernicus University, said Nawrocka’s public appearances fitted the “classic campaign tactic” of a supportive spouse helping to soften a candidate’s image.
Anna Wojciuk of Warsaw University added that she may emulate current first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda by remaining elegant but largely silent on divisive debates such as abortion.
Nawrocka has worked for 17 years in the National Revenue Administration, where she carries a firearm and tackles illegal gambling in the Tricity area. Like her predecessors, she is expected to take unpaid leave once her husband is sworn in; the role of first lady carries no salary, but the state will pay pension contributions worth about PLN 8,600 ($2,300) a year, or roughly PLN 100,000 ($26,700) over a five-year term.
Karol Nawrocki, backed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, narrowly won Sunday’s run-off with 50.89 percent of the vote against 49.11 percent for liberal candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.
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Source: Onet, Polskie Radio 24, Business Insider