Overview

• Parliament backed Tusk’s government with 243 votes in favor and 210 against in a confidence vote held June 11 following his coalition’s setback in the June 1 presidential election.
• Karol Nawrocki won 51% of the presidential vote as a nationalist historian supported by the Law and Justice party and awaits Supreme Court validation before taking office.
• The Polish president wields veto authority over laws and shapes foreign and defense policy, giving Nawrocki potential leverage to block government initiatives.
• Growing friction within the pro-European coalition, especially over immigration and social issues championed by the Polish People’s Party, threatens to test Tusk’s slim majority.
• Nawrocki’s opposition to Ukraine’s NATO membership and critical stance on EU judicial reforms raise questions about the future of Poland’s ties with Kyiv and Brussels.