“Tusk wants to stand high profile figures to try and raise the stakes of the election in order to persuade supporters that it’s really important that they turn out to vote, as he’s worried that they are less motivated than PiS supporters,” said Szczerbiak, the U.K.-based professor.
PiS is also fielding high-profile figures to draw attention to the election.
There are the two ex-Polish lawmakers, Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, who were convicted and jailed on abuse of power charges before being pardoned by Duda. Then there’s the controversial former head of Poland’s public media company, Jacek Kurski, and the ousted CEO of Poland’s Orlen state oil company, Daniel Obajtek, who was recently linked to a botched 1.6 billion złoty oil deal.
PiS hopes an EU election win will catapult them toward Poland’s next crucial election — the presidency race in 2025. Poland’s president can veto legislation and make life difficult for the government. If PiS prevails, it would all but derail Tusk’s agenda.
Currently, POLITICO’s Poll of Polls shows Tusk’s Civic Coalition party level with PiS at 32 percent. Tusk’s coalition partners, Polska 2050 and the Left, are at 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Buras cautioned Tusk against dabbling too much in EU skepticism on the campaign trail.
“It’s short-sighted and self-defeating because at the end of the day,” he said, “Tusk won’t ever outdo PiS in anti-EU rhetoric.”