内容摘要：and to investigations into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.

and to investigations into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.

Nawrocki also has been endorsed by the Trump administration and conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.Many European centrists are rooting for Trzaskowski, seeing in him someone who would defend democracy as it faces pressure from authoritarian forces across the globe. He has received the support of new centrist

— who recently defeated a far-right nationalist.Nawrocki has faced a number of scandals over the past months, but it’s not clear that they are hurting him. In fact, they might have the opposite effect. Many right-wing voters don’t believe the allegations and accuse the media of using its power to hurt him, creating what appears to be a rallying effect around him.Nawrocki himself has acknowledged that he took part in an organized brawl including football hooligans in 2009. A former boxer, he said he has taken part in various forms of “noble male battle” in his life.

Polish media have also reported on his connections to gangsters and the world of prostitution.Tusk accused Law and Justice party leader Jarosław Kaczynski of tapping Nawrocki despite questions about his past.

“You knew about everything, Jarosław. About the connections with the gangsters, about ‘fixing girls,’” Tusk wrote on X. “The entire responsibility for this catastrophe falls on you!”

1. Security and war in Ukraine: With Russia’s war in Ukraine in its fourth year, Polish voters are acutely attuned to issues of regional security. Both candidates support continued backing for Ukraine, but to different degrees. Nawrocki believes that Ukraine should never join NATO, while Trzaskowski believes Ukraine should be allowed to join one day when the current war is over.Sunday’s vote will either empower Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a pro-EU reformer, with a presidential ally who can advance his rule-of-law agenda — or saddle him with a rival who could veto legislation and block government initiatives.

Trzaskowski’s supporters argue that a pro-European leader would enhance Poland’s global standing during a time of war in Europe. Nawrocki’s backers believe only conservative rule can safeguard national sovereignty and traditional Christian values, and they say Trump’s support would greatly enhance Poland’s security.But the candidate who may ultimately decide the outcome is one who won’t appear on the runoff ballot.

Sławomir Mentzen, a 38-year-old far-right politician and beer producer from the central city of Torun, finished third in the first round of voting on May 18, with nearly 15% of the vote. Though eliminated, his supporters — often young, anti-establishment, and deeply skeptical of both Brussels and Poland’s political establishment — have become the most sought-after constituency in the country.Both remaining candidates have gone out of their way to court Mentzen and his base. In recent days, each man traveled to the north-central Polish town of Torun, famous for being the birthplace of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, to appear on Mentzen’s YouTube channel, where he has built a following with a mix of libertarian economics, nationalist rhetoric, and anti-EU invective.