Żulczyk, one of Poland’s best-known contemporary novelists, shared his reaction shortly after the electoral commission confirmed the narrow victory of Nawrocki, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) candidate.
Karol Nawrocki won 50.89% of the vote, narrowly defeating the centrist Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who received 49.11%.
During the campaign, Nawrocki was dogged by claims of alleged past associations with criminal figures - allegations he has firmly denied.
In a post on Monday morning on X (formerly Twitter), Żulczyk wrote:
“We are horribly divided. They’ve torn us apart as a society - and that’s what’s truly frightening, not the fact that Nawrocki won. Who benefits most from this division? That doesn’t need explaining. Hint: he likes Botox, hockey, and riding bears. As for me - I don’t intend to sob, act out, or move abroad.”
“I survived 10 years with a PiS president. I’ll keep living - and writing gangster novels. The kind like The Candidate,” he added, referring to his recently published novel exploring the dark side of political power struggles.
Żulczyk concluded with a pointed postscript, blaming Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Rafał Trzaskowski - the Civic Coalition (KO) candidate supported by Poland’s pro-European ruling alliance - for the election outcome.
“They really botched it spectacularly and handed Poland Nawrocki’s victory. Yes, them. It’s their fault, and I hope it’s the end of their political careers,” he wrote, suggesting that Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who previously sought KO’s backing, might have had a better chance at defeating the right-wing PiS candidate.
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Source: X/@Jakubzulczyk