Polish citizens were called to the voting booths on July 12th for the second round of the presidential election. The election culminated in a face-off between Andrzej Duda, the ultra-conservative from the Law and Justice Party (PiS, member of ECR) and Rafał Trzaskowski from the Civic Platform (EPP). Rafał Trzaskowski, representing a chance for Poland to reverse its trend of democratic backsliding and mend its relation with the European Union, received support from Zieloni, the Polish green party, in the second round of the election.   

Unfortunately, and despite an extremely tight second round, Rafał Trzaskowski didn’t manage to win the election. While fully acknowledging the democratic legitimacy of the results, the European Green Party finds that such a tight result is an encouraging sign for a more democratic Poland, especially considering the politically uneven playing field faced by Rafał Trzaskowski’s campaign.  

Thomas Waitz, co-chair of the European Green Party and MEP comments:   

“Yesterday’s results are particularly worrying as the party in power will most likely continue the democratic backsliding we have witnessed for several years now. Poland must abide by European democratic and rule of law standards.”

Read the full statement here.