The primaries in the Civic Coalition – The clash of experience with modernity

The primaries in KO proved to be a success of Donald Tusk's group, drawing public attention. origin – Wikimedia Commons. licence – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Aike 4.0 International. Author – Silar

After 10 years of Andrzej Duda's presidency a fresh chapter in Polish politics begins. The largest political strength of the governing coalition – the Civic Coalition – has a real chance to presume the office of president of the Republic of Poland. She so decided to organise presidential primaries. The focus was on 2 politicians: Radosław Sikorski and Rafał Trzaskowski. Their rivalry was a duel for the future direction of the Civic Coalition and for a way of fighting a candidate supported by the United Right.

The Civic Platform first utilized the presidential primary strategy in 2010. At that time, the primaries ended with the appointment as Bronisław Komorowski's candidate, who then won with Jarosław Kaczyński in the general election. The primaries are mostly a clever way to attract media attention and encourage audiences to track candidates and get to know them. Competitive politicians come from the same party, are willing to support the winner of the primary in the general election. Nevertheless, primaries do not prepare a candidate for a second circular of elections — in it is simply a key ability to attract voters from another parties.

Experienced Policy

Radosław Sikorski presently serves as abroad Minister in the government of Donald Tusk. He began his career as a writer who wrote for British writings specified as “The Observer”, “The Spectator” and “The Sunday Telegraph”. In 1987, he became celebrated as a war reporter in Afghanistan erstwhile he was awarded the prestigious planet Press photograph award in the category of reporter photos.

Sikorski began his political career in 1992, assuming the position of Deputy Minister of National Defence in the government of Jan Olszewski, participating, among others, in negotiations related to Poland's accession to NATO. From 1998 to 2001, he served as Deputy abroad Minister in Jerzy Buzek's office. In September 2005, he won a senator's mandate by moving from a letter of Law and Justice. Shortly after the election, he took up the position of Minister of National Defence in the cabinet of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, and then continued to hold this function in the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński. He resigned his post in February 2007, resigning. According to Sikorski, the resignation was a consequence of a conflict with Antoni Macierewicz, who was then his subordinate as the Head of Military Counterintelligence Service. He felt that a politician ignored his commands and even sabotaged them. Another origin of tension was attempts to discredit the minister, by denouncing him with British citizenship, which he renounced in 2006. The increasing conflict between Sikorski and his then organization was utilized by Donald Tusk, reaching agreement with the current PiSu policy. In the parliamentary elections, Sikorski ran from the list of the Civic Platform. Following the triumph of the PO in the parliamentary election, he took office as abroad Minister — he held that position until 2014. After leaving the government in 2014-2015, he served as talker of the Sejm. In 2019, Sikorski became the first Euro MP.

To this day, the top advantage and at the same time the problem of Sikorski, which he had to face in the context of the primaries, is his love for abroad policy. At a time erstwhile most politicians of his generation engaged in opposition activities in the country, he left for Britain in 1981, where he obtained political asylum, and then continued to survey at Oxford University, earning his education there. His wife, American author and writer Anne Applebaum, is besides frequently mentioned as being powerfully liberal. For any of Sikorski's voters, due to his membership of the elite, he could be harder to accept than another candidates.

Despite his successful career as a diplomat, Sikorski is besides known for a number of failures — for example 2 years ago erstwhile on Twitter he suggested that the United States might be liable for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leak. The entry became a tool of propaganda in Russia, and Dmitri Poljanski, a permanent typical of Russia to the UN, expressed his large gratitude for the entry of the then Euro MP Sikorski.

Progressive Leader

Rafał Trzaskowski began his political career as an advisor to the Secretary of the European Integration Committee Jacek Saryusz-Wolski from 2000 to 2001, being active in the preparation of Poland for membership of the European Union. In the 2009 European Parliament election, he won a Euro MP's mandate representing the Civic Platform. In 2013 – 2014, Trzaskowski served as Minister of Administration and Digitization in the PO-PSL government. On 24 September 2014, he was appointed Secretary of State in the Ministry of abroad Affairs for European Affairs. In 2018, Trzaskowski became president of Warsaw, becoming 1 of the most crucial politicians among the opposition local authorities to the United Right. In 2020, Trzaskowski, being the leader of the liberal wing of the PO, assumed the position of vice-president of the party. In the same year, just 2 months before the presidential election, he was announced as a candidate for the Civic Coalition, replacing Margaret Kidawa-Błońska, who withdrew from the launch. The politician got into the second circular and scored almost 49% of the votes. Despite losing, he became a symbol of a united opposition and a fresh generation policy. In 2024 he again applied for the office of president of Warsaw, continuing his political career in the capital. In the local election, he already won in the first round.

February 18, 2019 Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration prepared by the Love Association It does not exclude supporting the rights of LGBT+ sexual minorities, including the introduction of anti-discrimination classes in schools, the patronage of an equality parade or the reactivation of an intervention hostel for those in need. These actions, considered by people with leftist and liberal views to be modern and open, met mixed social responses. While any of the public supported them, they besides sparked a wave of criticism among conservative political groups and the right-wing part of public opinion. 1 of the biggest challenges that Trzaskowski faced as president of Warsaw was the failure in the sewage treatment plant “Cchajka”. At the end of August 2019, there was a serious malfunction of 2 waste water collectors, resulting in a discharge of impurity into the Vistula River. The post-accident studies showed that the origin of the problem was an mistake in the installation structure. However, the government at the time, as well as any of the public opinion, placed work for this situation of the president of Warsaw, which became the subject of many political attacks.

Rafał Trzaskowski yet won the primaries of the Civic Coalition on 22 November, defeating Radosław Sikorski, thereby gaining the nomination to fight for the presidency. Although Minister Sikorski was a strong candidate, he failed to gain adequate support from his party's colleagues, which allowed Trzaskowski to win. The triumph of Trzaskowski can be read as a focus by the activists of KO on the politics of young, energetic and definitely more liberal than the erstwhile Polish presidents. For the president of Warsaw, however, this is only the beginning of the run challenge – he faces a hard task of convincing voters with more conservative views. He will besides gotta prove that he understands the problems of Poles from smaller towns. His success in the primaries shows that he can mobilise the Citizen Coalition Act, but in order to win the general election, he will gotta extend his support beyond the current electorate base. As of 24 November, his biggest rival in the fight for the presidency is Karol Nawrocki, a candidate supported by the Law and Justice. Rafał Trzaskowski must defeat him in order to win the May 2025 presidential election.

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