Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, takes office

Supporters lined the route between the cathedral and the Royal Castle, chanting “Andrzej Duda” and “Bravo” before the new right wing president was sworn in before the National Assembly of lawmakers and senators.

Duda won the presidential elections on May 24 after garnering over 51 percent of the popular vote. He will have to find ways to work alongside the liberal coalition government of Civic Platform and a small farmer party. However, confusion surrounded the absence from the ceremony of European Union leader and former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.

Duda has expressed fidelity to the views of the twins and recently sang the praises of Jaroslaw in an interview: “He’s a great politician, often disparaged but able to recover every time”.

He stressed that ” it is good” that Poland is a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but that it should have as strong an independent army as is possible.

Earlier this week, Duda said Poland should be a part of peace talks in the Ukraine crisis, a sign of his ambition to increase Warsaw’s worldwide role.

He has also stressed his wish to focus on improved relations with neighbours in central and Eastern Europe. “He should be at the service of society as a whole”.

Along the way, Duda is stretching Poland’s tradition of the apolitical presidency by aligning closely with Law & Justice.

President Andrzej Duda during the ceremony on Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square.

In his first speech as president to the two chambers of parliament, Duda, 43, also said he will uphold his pledges to raise the tax-free allowance and lower the retirement age.

“We must maintain connectivity with the young overseas”, he said “to create conditions for their return to Poland”.

As prime minister from 2005 to 2007, Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother, the late president Lech Kaczynski, pushed a radical campaign against corruption at home – and fell out with key European partners. He was elected to the Polish parliament in 2011, then to the European Parliament previous year.

An avid skier, Duda is married to Agata, a high-school German teacher. The couple has one daughter.