Poland’s recent presidential election is now at risk of being overturned after the conservative candidate, Karol Nawrocki, won a surprise victory against the liberal favorite. Backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, Nawrocki defeated the liberal Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, a close ally of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Brussels-aligned coalition.
But instead of acceptance, Nawrocki’s win has triggered a wave of resistance. Unlike in other EU countries—where electoral irregularities are tolerated if the “correct” candidates win—Poland now faces the prospect of having the vote annulled altogether. The Supreme Court has announced that it will issue a verdict on the election’s validity on July 1 after receiving more than 50,000 complaints.
Among the allegations are vote-counting errors, misattributed ballots, and unusually high invalid votes in districts where Trzaskowski had led in the first round. The ruling coalition has openly encouraged citizens to submit complaints, and some of its members are already calling for a full recount. PiS, on the other hand, says there is no basis to overturn the vote and accuses the government of trying to sabotage democracy after losing.
Adding to the controversy, the final ruling will be made by the Supreme Court’s Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber—whose judges were appointed during the previous PiS government. Although this chamber is legal under Polish law, the EU refuses to recognize it as legitimate, adding a distinctly European dimension to the internal conflict. This may well give Tusk and his Brussels allies an excuse to ignore the ruling if it does not go their way.
According to reports by RMF FM, prosecutors involved in reviewing the official complaints are already claiming the July 1 deadline “unrealistic.” They say thousands of complaints are yet to be read—let alone evaluated. Yet the Supreme Court President, Małgorzata Manowska, has insisted the ruling will be issued on time, unless “extraordinary events” intervene. She has even warned of potential attempts to breach the court building, suggesting that someone with authorised access might allow protesters in.
The pattern is unmistakable: when the people vote against Brussels’ agenda, the effort to delegitimize the result begins at once. There were no calls to redo elections in Romania despite multiple fraud allegations, because a pro-EU liberal won. However, in Poland—a country that has resisted Brussels’ ideological diktats on migration, judicial sovereignty, and gender policies—the possibility of cancelling the result is seriously being considered.
The Polish case has become a symbol of a deeper truth: the issue isn’t election integrity—it’s that voters backed someone who won’t bow to Brussels. This is a further warning to any nation still bold enough to exercise its sovereignty within the European Union: if you vote wrong, Brussels won’t forgive you.
