Rafał Trzaskowski in the context of "2025 Polish presidential election"

The Civic Platform (Polish: Platforma Obywatelska, PO) was a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. The party's most prominent leader was Donald Tusk, party chairman between 2003–2014 and 2021–2025.

It was formed in 2001 by splinter factions from the Solidarity Electoral Action, the Freedom Union and the Conservative People's Party, and it later placed second in the 2001 Polish parliamentary election. It remained at the opposition until the 2007 Polish parliamentary opposition, when it overtook Law and Justice, won 209 seats, and Tusk was elected as Prime Minister of Poland. Following the Smolensk air disaster in 2010, Bronisław Komorowski served as acting president of Poland and later won the 2010 Polish presidential election. Tusk continued to serve as prime minister and leader of Civic Platform until he resigned in 2014 to assume the post of the president of the European Council. The party was defeated in the 2015 Polish parliamentary and presidential elections. It placed second in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, and its 2020 Polish presidential election candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, won 49% of the popular vote in the second round and lost the election to Andrzej Duda.

Presidential elections were held in Poland on 28 June 2020. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 12 July, in which incumbent president Andrzej Duda, running with the support of the incumbent government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, faced off against Civic Platform vice-chairman and Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski. In the second round Duda was re-elected for a second term with 51% of the vote, becoming the first incumbent to win re-election since Aleksander Kwaśniewski in 2000.

The first round of voting was due to be held on 10 May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. On 6 May 2020 the Agreement party, which was in a governing alliance with their senior alliance partner Law and Justice (PiS) party and was opposed to pursuing the original election date, reached an arrangement to set new dates for the election. The following day, the PKW declared that the election would not take place on 10 May 2020. On 3 June 2020, the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, ordered the first round of the election to be held on 28 June 2020 and scheduled the second round on 12 July 2020.

Karol Tadeusz Nawrocki (born 3 March 1983) is a Polish historian and politician who has served as the 7th president of Poland since 2025. Previously, he served as the director of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) from 2021 to 2025, and was the director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk from 2017 to 2021.

Born in Gdańsk, Nawrocki studied history at the University of Gdańsk, earning a PhD in 2013 with a dissertation on anti-communist activities in the former Polish People's Republic. His academic work centers on themes such as anti-communist resistance, organized crime, and the history of sports, a subject tied to his own background as an active youth athlete, particularly in football and boxing. Nawrocki's early professional career was closely aligned with institutions dedicated to preserving and promoting Poland's historical memory. He joined the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in 2009 and gained recognition for reorienting Poland's historical institutions toward a patriotic and anti-communist narrative. In the 2025 presidential election, Nawrocki was chosen as the presidential candidate of the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, ran as a nonpartisan "citizens' candidate" and defeated the liberal Rafał Trzaskowski.