WARSAW – “President Andrzej Duda said there are two candidates he would like to see win and that he could support either of them,” Slawomir Mentzen, the far-right candidate for the Polish presidency (Confederation, ESN/PfE), said on his YouTube channel.
Mentzen, who is currently third in the polls and is competing with PiS's Karol Nawrocki (ECR) for a place in the second round of elections in May, was invited to the presidential palace last month. The meeting has fueled speculation that the outgoing president may back a strong Confederation candidate over Nawrocki, his party's struggling candidate.
After the meeting, Menzen said he had discussed a “wide range of topics” with Duda, including Polish security, the army and the defence industry.
He returned to this topic again in an interview on the YouTube channel of journalist Bohdan Rymanovsky.
“President Andrzej Duda told me that there were two candidates he would like to see win and that he could support either of them,” Menzen said, implying that the two candidates were himself and Nawrocki.
However, he acknowledged that Duda most likely supports Nawrocki's bid. “It would be strange if it were otherwise. After all, he is from the PiS,” he admitted.
Mentzen also dismissed media speculation about a potential coalition government between the Confederation and PiS, an idea recently proposed by Andrzej Anusz, a policy expert at the Pilsudski Institute.
If Nawrocki makes it to the second round, Mentzen could support him on the condition that the Confederation is allowed to nominate a candidate for prime minister in a future coalition government after the 2027 parliamentary elections, Anusz told the right-wing weekly Do Rzeczy.
The Confederation positions itself as equally anti-party and anti-government, without leaning towards either side.
Third again
According to the latest Pollster Institute poll for Super Express, Menzen has lost the second place he recently won and is now behind Nawrocki.
Rafał Trzaskowski from Donald Tusk's Civic Platform (PO, EPP) remains the favourite with 35% of the vote, followed by Nawrocki (23%) and Mentzen (19%).
According to branding expert Bartłomiej Machnik from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University of Warsaw, Mentzen's decline in support may be linked to his recent comments in an interview with journalist Krzysztof Stanowski, who has also announced his candidacy for president.
In the interview, Mentzen reiterated his opposition to abortion under any circumstances, including in cases of rape.
“We have no right to kill another person just because he upsets us, is unpleasant to us or can seriously harm our life. We do not kill innocent people – I think this is very important,” he said.
Following the backlash, he tried to clarify his statements in an interview with Rymanovsky.
“I didn't call rape 'an unpleasant experience.' I called it a terrible tragedy,” he said, adding that he “always calls rape a great tragedy.”
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)
Source: Source
