Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election

By Rob Picheta, CNN

(CNN) — A historian and populist firebrand who boasted about his brawls with soccer hooligans has narrowly won Poland’s presidential election in a political upset that could torpedo the centrist government’s efforts to unspool the legacy of authoritarianism in the country.

Karol Nawrocki, the candidate aligned with Poland’s right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party, won 50.89% of the vote, defeating the liberal mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, long the favorite to win, in a head-to-head run-off, Reuters reported, citing electoral commission figures.

The result extends PiS’ 10-year occupancy of the presidential palace and could spell disaster for Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose pledge to erase PiS’ fingerprints from Poland’s embattled institutions saw him cl