Andrzej Duda wins the Polish presidential election

The Polish election commission just confirmed that Andrzej Duda became the president-elect of Poland by winning yesterday’s election against President Bronisław Komorowski with a margin of 51% to 48% of the vote.

This was the second round of the presidential elections in Poland. Two weeks ago Duda also won, but he didn’t gain a majority of votes, as required by the constitution, so a runoff was set between Duda and Komorowski, the next highest vote getter. Komorowski and his Civic Platform were blamed for not being responsive to the demands of voters and running a lethargic campaign for months, until Duda’s unexpected success two weeks ago. Most pundits and pollsters expected Komorowski to win the first round of the elections decisively. The the Mass Media doesn’t criticize itself, but this is a prime example of the tone deafness of political commentators, pollsters and assorted pundits in Poland, though their counterparts in the United Kingdom and elsewhere have been similarly embarrassed. It would be a stretch to compare Komorowski’s Civic Platform and Duda’s Law and Justice parties to the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S., but from the point of view of social policies, Law and Justice is more conservative while the Civic Platform is more liberal. Both parties are proponents of social welfare spending, albeit for different constituencies, so neither could be mistaken for libertarians or fiscal conservatives. The Law and Justice party has been a political punching bag for the Polish media (which heavily favor the Civic Platform), the chairman of the party, Jarosław Kaczyński (twin brother of the President Lech Kaczyński who was killed in the Smolensk crash) being their favorite target. In a shrewd political move, the polarizing Jarosław Kaczyński (who lost the 2010 presidential election to Komorowski) set Duda as the party’s standard-bearer while staying out of the limelight during the election campaign. Though Duda has been in Polish politics for roughly a decade, he hasn’t been a prominent figure. Only 43 years old, compared to Komorowski at 62, Duda presented a generational alternative to those younger voters who are frustrated with limited economic opportunities in Poland.

The Polish presidency has limited powers compared to his American counterpart, but Duda will still be able to veto and propose parliamentary legislation and will serve as the leader of the Polish armed forces. Most importantly perhaps, Duda’s presidency may enhance the Law and Justice party’s efforts to regain a majority in the parliament (currently controlled by the Civic Platform) during the fall elections. Pundits are already speculating what a Duda presidency will mean, including the assumption that ties with Germany and the European Union will weaken, while a stronger relationship with the United States will be sought. Though Duda’s victory wasn’t an overwhelming one, it is a signal that Poles are tired of the status quo and are ready for a change in the countries most visible public office. When he is sworn in on August 6, Andrzej Duda will have the opportunity to show his sincerity in declaring his desire to preside as president of all Poles, not just his constituencies. Given the pettiness and rancor of Polish politics, especially in the last five years, I for one hope that Duda can inspire some semblance of unity among Poles and serve as a positive example for a new generation of politicians who came of age after the revolutions of 1989.