WARSAW – Sławomir Mentzen, the rising star of Poland’s far right who came third in Sunday’s presidential election, has outlined strict conditions for potentially endorsing either Rafał Trzaskowski or Karol Nawrocki in the second round.
Trzaskowski, the Civic Platform (PO, EPP) candidate and mayor of Warsaw, won the first round with 31.4% of the vote. He now faces a tight runoff against conservative Karol Nawrocki, backed by the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS, ECR), who secured 29.5%.
Mentzen ultimately finished third with 14.8%, though at one point he had pulled close to Nawrocki, prompting speculation he might reach the second round himself.
His voters – mostly young and anti-establishment – are a valuable target for both remaining candidates. Mentzen has positioned himself as equally opposed to both the current government and PiS, aligning with neither.
Rather than immediately endorsing anyone, Mentzen invited both candidates to a live-streamed meeting on his YouTube channel, where he would ask them to sign a declaration meeting his political demands.
“My voters don’t watch your TV stations or believe your media’s propaganda,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “They use social media and follow my content. If you want their votes, convince them there.”
In a separate video, Mentzen detailed his conditions. Any candidate seeking his support must pledge not to sign legislation that increases taxes, contributions, or fees; introduces new fiscal burdens; or limits the use of cash. They must also commit to protecting the Polish złoty.
Additional demands include refusing to sign any law restricting freedom of expression, opposing the deployment of Polish troops to Ukraine, rejecting any ratification of Ukraine’s NATO accession, and protecting access to firearms for Polish citizens.
Finally, candidates must oppose any further transfer of competences to the EU or the ratification of new EU treaties that would, in Mentzen’s view, weaken Poland’s position — such as by reducing its voting power or removing its veto rights in the Council.
Electorate that could tip the balance
Radosław Markowski, a political sociologist from the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), said Mentzen’s electorate is difficult to predict.
“This is a group largely made up of very young, emotionally driven people who often vote more in protest than support. Many may simply abstain from voting in the second round,” he told Euractiv Poland.
It is also an ideologically diverse group, the expert said, explaining that economically, many are ultra-liberal and hostile to PiS’s welfare agenda, while others are socially conservative and distrustful of mainstream liberalism.
“With Mentzen’s 15% – over two million votes – this unpredictable bloc could prove decisive,” Markowski said.