Anaemic grey clouds hung over much of Warsaw as the city’s liberals and progressives came to terms with the fact that it will almost certainly be another three years, during parliamentary elections in 2023, before they get a chance to challenge the ruling party’s hold on power after its preferred candidate, Andrzej Duda, won re-election as president on Monday.
But as they lick their wounds – with many nursing hangovers, talking of emigration, or both – Polish liberals and defenders of the rule of law are caught between their anger and frustration at what they regard as a playing field tilted by state authorities in the incumbent’s favour, and a discombobulating mixture of dread and cautious optimism engendered by a close result that only a month or two scarcely seemed imaginable.
You can read my report for the Guardian here.
Christian Davies 