“Third time’s the charm” is a rather common saying. Although Rafał Trzaskowski lost the latest presidential election, he is considering whether to run again in five years. His party colleague, PO MP Agnieszka Pomaska, has already responded: “It’s hard to imagine,” she stated.
Trzaskowski’s defeats
Rafał Trzaskowski, Vice-Chairman of the Civic Platform, has now experienced two defeats in presidential elections.
His first loss was in 2020, when Polish voters gave Andrzej Duda a second term. The second occurred just last week, when Karol Nawrocki, the candidate supported by Law and Justice, emerged victorious.
Donald Tusk’s political circle is dissatisfied with this outcome, as voices grow louder suggesting that the 2025 elections were about more than just the presidency. The results also reflected the waning support for the ruling coalition, which has been steadily declining month by month.
Third time’s the charm?
One question remains — will Rafał Trzaskowski decide to run for president again?
“He was certainly a much stronger candidate in 2020 than in 2025, likely because the campaign was shorter and he was the fresh, poster candidate back then, campaigning for just 1.5 months before his support began to decline,” assessed Marcin Mastalerek, Head of the Office of the President of Poland, this morning on RMF FM.
Supporting this view is the statement from Agnieszka Pomaska, a Civic Platform MP, also from today.
“I think it’s hard to imagine a third run by Rafał Trzaskowski at this point. It must be said openly,” she said during an interview with TVN24.
She added, “I’m not convinced that Rafał Trzaskowski himself would be ready for that either.”