WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's conservative Law and Justice party, which is trying to regain its momentum after losing power last year, on Sunday chose historian Karol Nawrocki as its candidate for president ahead of next year's election.
The decision caps a weekend during which the country's two largest parties announced their candidates for en election that will decide the successor to incumbent President Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term ends in August 2025.
Nawrocki, 41, has since 2021 led the Institute of National Remembrance, a state body that houses archives and researches the crimes of World War II and the communist era. He previously served as the director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, the city where he was born.
The party bypassed seasoned politicians including former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to tap the lesser-known Nawrocki to run for the highest office, similar to what it did in choosing Duda a decade earlier.
“The party decided to field a non-partisan, independent candidate, a candidate that many of our prominent activists, including the top ones, did not know closely," party leader Jarosław Kaczyński told those gathered at a party convention in the southern city of Krakow.
Had Kaczyński tapped Morawiecki or another high-level party member who held a government role from 2015-23, it could have made the corruption scandals of that period a key focus of the campaign.
Kaczyński stated in an interview months ago that the party’s presidential candidate should be “young, tall, impressive, handsome, have a family, know English very well, and preferably two languages, and be internationally savvy.”
Nawrocki, giving an acceptance speech to an audience that included his wife and three children, laid out a world view that is fully in line with the party's: patriotic, pro-Christian, pro-NATO and favorable to President-elect Donald Trump.
The announcement in Krakow came a day after the main governing party, Civic Coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, announced that it was fielding progressive Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski as its candidate.
Even though other parties will have candidates, the race is expected to be mostly dominated by Nawrocki and Trzaskowski.
Law and Justice, in power for eight years from 2015 to 2023, is expected to face headwinds at the polls due to a loss of state funding after the state electoral authority determined earlier this year that the party violated campaign funding rules in the 2023 parliamentary vote.
The constitutional calendar dictates that the first round of the presidential election be held on a Sunday in May 2025, though the date has not been set yet. If no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held two weeks later.
Other candidates who have announced plans to run include the parliament speaker, Szymon Hołownia, leader of the Poland 2050 party, while the far-right Confederation party has said that its candidate will be Sławomir Mentzen.
Karol Nawrocki, the head of Poland's state historical institute, speaks to a convention of Poland's conservative Law and Justice party after being tapped to be its candidate for president in an election next year, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Krakow, Poland. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
WADI AD-DAWASIR, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saood Variawa snatched stage eight from South African compatriot Henk Lategan by three seconds after an impressive comeback drive in the Dakar Rally on Monday.
Variawa, only 20 and driving in his third Dakar, started 26th and was in sixth place with 100 kilometers to go in the 483-kilometer loop outside Wadi ad-Dawasir. Then he was third after 414 and second after 448.
For the second straight day Lategan had a stage win ripped from his grasp. On Sunday his Toyota's rear damper broke 30 kilometers from the finish.
Meanwhile, Luciano Benavides became the overall motorbike leader for the first time in his ninth Dakar after winning a second straight stage and gobbling up all 7 1/2 minutes in bonus time for faultlessly opening the way.
Benavides won the stage by 4:50 over KTM teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders and replaced Sanders atop the overall by 10 seconds going into the two-day marathon stage.
Monday's stage, the longest of the race, had a cocktail of dunes, valleys and rocks but navigation was easier than expected and it turned into a fast, wind-whipped special.
The top five cars — featuring main title contenders Lategan, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mattias Ekström — were less than a minute apart for the first 400 kilometers until Al-Attiyah's navigation error suddenly dropped him two minutes behind.
Thanks to starting nearly an hour after the opener, Ekström, Variawa sneaked through for his second career stage win. The first last year at 19 made him the youngest stage winner in Dakar history.
“The car was perfect on a very long stage on which it was difficult to keep up with the pace,” Variawa said. “In the dunes we navigated well while a lot of others got lost. At times we went our own way and perhaps that's where we made a difference. I'm very happy and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Variawa, following his father Shameer as a Dakar racer, suffered tire, navigation and mechanical problems on Sunday but got his Toyota back up to 13th overall with the aim of a maiden top-10 finish.
Al-Attiyah's Dacia got about 45 seconds back in the closing section to finish fifth and limit his time losses to remain the overall leader by four minutes over Ekström, whose Ford was third on the stage, and six minutes over Lategan.
Nani Roma fell from third to fourth, 9 1/2 minutes back, and Ford teammate Carlos Sainz was another minute behind. It's the closest top five after eight stages in 26 years.
The motorbikes of Sanders and Ricky Brabec were quicker in real time but the seven-plus minutes in time bonuses for opening the dusty track helped Benavides win by the same margin he did on Sunday, nearly five minutes.
“These last two stages were a little bit more fast and in these conditions I can read the roadbook super, super good and make good decisions,” Benavides said.
He has eight career motorbike stage wins, three behind his brother Kevin, the champion in 2021 and 2023.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Rider Tosha Schareina competes during the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally with a start and finish at Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rider Ricky Brabec competes during the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally with a start and finish at Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Carlos Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz compete with riders David Brock, bottom right, and Fernando Dominguez, top left, during the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally with a start and finish at Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Romain Dumas and co-driver Alex Winocq compete with riders David Brock, right, and Fernando Dominguez, in the background, during the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally with a start and finish at Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Driver Saood Variawa and co-driver Francois Cazalet compete during the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally with a start and finish at Wadi Ad Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan.12, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
