Poland's divisions on display as presidential candidates bicker in a live TV debate

WARSAW, Poland — Bickering and chaos overshadowed a presidential debate in Poland on Friday evening as eight candidates met to discuss existential matters for this country on NATO's eastern flank — including fears of Russia over its war in Ukraine and concerns about President Donald Trump's commitment to Europe's security.

Poland is voting on May 18 to elect a new president as the outgoing leader, Andrzej Duda, nears the end of his second and final five-year term. If no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote, a runoff will take place June 1 between the top two.

The heated discussions on display Friday underscored the deep division in this nation of 38 million.

Poland's rural heartland

The debate was held in Konskie, a provincial town of 32,000 in central Poland seen as the kind of place crucial to winning an election in a country with many rural, conservative voters.

It had the appearance of an unscripted, chaotic show.

In the end, there were in fact two debates — the first one took place outdoors and was broadcast by two right-wing stations with rowdy onlookers whistling and booing candidates they didn't like. A left-wing candidate, Joanna Senyszyn, arrived late, joining the others about 20 minutes after the event began.

Then the candidates moved to an indoor studio for the main debate, broadcast by the traditional broadcasters, TVN, TVP and Polsat.

Some clarity came across. The candidates were asked about whether they want a return to compulsory conscription in the army. The frontrunners said they don't.

They were asked what a president should do to ensure energy stability in Poland, which has been trying to free itself from Russian energy. They variously stressed support for renewable sources, nuclear energy or relying more on Poland's own coal. Only one said he supported using Russian energy.

Until the last moment it wasn't clear if the debate would happen at all, or in what format, amid arguments over who should be included and who not, and over which of the television broadcasters should be allowed to transmit the debate.

The candidates

Friday's debate was originally meant to include only the two top candidates, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski and conservative historian Karol Nawrocki.

But others contenders protested that format, saying it was unfair to exclude them. They ended up traveling to Konskie and demanding they be included as well. At the last moment they were.

Nawrocki, 42, also protested the exclusion of the two right-wing stations — TV Republika and wPolsce24 — from being allowed to broadcast the debate. Many from his political camp consider TVN and TVP to be biased against them.

Trzaskowski, a 53-year-old from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European Union party is the frontrunner, with over 30% in recent polls. He is followed in most polls by Nawrocki, the director of a state historical institute backed by Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland from 2015-23. Nawrocki has been polling at a bit over 20%.

But Trzaskowski — who only attended the second debate Friday — cannot rest easy as Nawrocki could expect to pick up in the second round some support now going to a far-right candidate, Sławomir Mentzen.

Mentzen has enjoyed a surge in popularity, especially among young men, part of a larger rise of far-right populists across Europe. He seemed to be surging ahead of Nawrocki briefly, but slipped back to third place after calling for an end to free university tuition and saying be believes abortion should be banned — even in cases where a pregnancy results from rape.

Mentzen did not join either of the debates, saying he didn't want to take part in a ''circus.''

Fighting over a rainbow flag

Nawrocki clearly seeks to tap into conservative voters. His campaign has been trying to highlight Trzaskowski's support for rights of the LGBTQ+ community to discredit him with conservatives

During the debate, Nawrocki carried a little rainbow flag and put it on Trzaskowski's podium, and Trzaskowski removed it, telling him: "You have an obsession with gays."

Later, a left-wing lawmaker, Magdalena Biejat, walked across the stage, took the flag and placed it proudly on her podium.

Anxiety over war in Ukraine

Located on the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union, Poland has been a strong supporter of Kyiv, supplying its ally with weapons and openings its door to Ukrainian refugees. Fears have been high since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Szymon Hołownia, the parliament speaker, openly accused another candidate, Maciej Maciak — who earlier in the debate expressed support for cheap Russian energy — of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin. ''Tell me, do you take money from Putin or do you do it as a volunteer?" he told him.

Adding to the anxiety are concerns that Trump could withdraw the 10,000 American troops in Poland, or the U.S. support for NATO.

Earlier this week, some Poles voiced worries after the United States said it was relocating personnel and military equipment from the Jasionka airport near Rzeszów, the hub for Western weapons headed to Ukraine.

U.S. and Polish authorities stressed that the U.S. was simply withdrawing to other locations in Poland, but the surprise announcement nonetheless trigged concerns that it could be a sign of further withdrawals later.