Presidential vote likely to determine Poland’s place on the EU stage

Rafał Trzaskowski, who is backed by Donald Tusk, and his wife, Małgorzata, campaigning with residents in Kępno, Poland, on 28 May. Photograph: Tomasz Wojtasik/EPA

Poland’s presidential election runoff could have far-reaching implications for its place in Europe – either cementing the country’s hard-won seat at the EU’s top table, or heralding a return to altogether trickier times.

The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, faces off against the historian Karol Nawrocki on Sunday in a neck-and-neck race, pitting a liberal vision of Poland at the heart of European policymaking against a nationalist, radical-right, EU-critical stance.