Karol Nawrocki is the PiS candidate for president. Expert comments

Karol Nawrocki, president of the Institute of National Remembrance, will be the candidate of Law and Justice in next year's presidential elections. Nawrocki is not a member of Law and Justice or any other party. The President of the Institute of National Remembrance is prohibited from doing so by law. PiS presents him as a “civic” candidate.

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Political scientist and sociologist, Ph.D. Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene and sociologist Dr. Hab. Wojciech Rafałowski – scientists from the University of Warsaw – commented on the election of Karol Nawrocki as the candidate of Law and Justice on TVN24.

Nawrocki is presented by PiS as a “civic” candidate, not a party one. Dr. hab. does not agree with this. Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene. – He is not a civic candidate, I had deja vu, I kept seeing him (Karol Nawrocki – ed.) Andrzej Duda. This way of speaking, emphasis in places where I imagine that Duda would emphasize some words in exactly the same way. Everything is the same from start to finish. I guess the concept is also the same, to present him as the future president of all Poles – said Dr. Hab. Mieńkowska-Norkiene.

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The expert predicted that Nawrocki “will soon receive very widespread support from the Catholic Church” and the PiS-supporting media. – The idea is to pretend that this will be the candidate of all Poles, as was the case with Andrzej Duda. (…) I don't think this will be the candidate of all Poles. Just as Andrzej Duda not only did not turn out to be the president of all Poles, but also turned out to be a tool in his hands Jarosław Kaczyńskithis is probably exactly the case with this new candidate of Law and Justice – said the TVN24 guest.

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She also stated that the presidential campaign would be polarized. She pointed out that Karol Nawrocki appeared on stage in Krakow to music from the movie “Rocky”, which could refer to the future of the PiS candidate, who was formerly a boxer. – He is supposed to present himself as the tough one who will fight for the good of Poland Rafał Trzaskowski he will probably be portrayed as anti-Christian, such a scumbag – said Mieńkowska-Norkiene.

Ph.D. Wojciech Rafałowski believes that calling Nawrocki a “civic” candidate is related to “the anti-party sentiment that exists in Poland and many Eastern European countries, where being a party is something bad and being a citizen is something good.”

– I think that at some point during this campaign we will forget that this is a citizen's candidate. What's more – if this impression is maintained until the end and Karol Nawrocki does not have “Law and Justice” written next to it on his electoral card, in my opinion it may have a negative impact on voters who are less politically experienced, because they may get lost in such a situation – he noted Rafałowski.

READ ALSO: PiS chose Nawrocki. Kaczyński: I need to explain our motives

The sociologist also pointed out that Nawrocki's statement, which included elements of Euroscepticism, suggests that “the priority is primarily the Confederation electorate, not the more moderate electorate.”

At the same time, Nawrocki – according to Rafałowski – will begin to create his image around memory and historical policy. – This is building national pride. There were a lot of national elements related to a topic with which Nawrocki himself is associated – with memory, with historical policy, so it is not surprising that he has been trying to consolidate his image in connection with these issues from the very beginning. Only then will he discover new things – analyzed the TVN24 guest.