In his first 100 days in office, Poland's new President Karol Nawrocki has positioned himself as the defender of the Polish nation and someone whose office might be sympathetic to the far-right.

With his athletic physique and impeccable suit, Nawrocki projected an old-school image of a protector as he kissed the hands of retired older women during an event this month at a library in Sochaczew, a small town of 33,000 situated 70 km from capital Warsaw.

That appeal to Poland's more conservative voters helped the 42-year-old Nawrocki win the Polish presidency in June. His fans say he stands for traditionalist values.

The president has declared himself against LGBTQ+ “privileges” and “aggressive left-wing radicalism."

He has pledged to resist NATO membership for neighboring Ukraine and has not visited that country since taking office.

With a background as a historian, Nawrocki was hardly known to the public when the leader of Poland's largest opposition party, the conservative Law and Justice, chose him to be its presidential candidate.

He was heading the Institute for National Remembrance, a state research body, at the time.

Most pundits expected liberal Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, running for the centrist governing alliance led by Donald Tusk, to win by a comfortable margin.

But Nawrocki’s underdog profile, despite media revelations that included alleged links to criminal figures and his past participation in a street brawl among football fans, helped to make him relatable to voters.

He denied the criminal links but not the brawl, saying he had taken part in many “noble, masculine” combats in his life.

Contributing to Nawrocki's success was also his use of alternative channels to get around mainstream media long seen as liberal-leaning, said Michał Szułdrzyński, editor-in-chief of conservative daily Rzeczpospolita.

This is where an ethos of rejecting “big city liberal elites” was cultivated by Poland's radicalizing right.

As a candidate, Nawrocki gave hours-long interviews to YouTube channel Kanał Zero and to the channel of Sławomir Mentzen, the leader of far-right party Confederation, who ranked third after the first round of presidential elections.

Mentzen's votes and those of another far-right candidate placed fourth mostly went to Nawrocki.

An endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump also helped Nowrocki in the election.

The relationship between the two presidents makes sense in the context of the “process of MAGA-ization of the Polish right," said Michał Szułdrzyński, editor-in-chief of conservative daily Rzeczpospolita.

In late October, when the U.S. announced it was reducing the number of troops it had placed on NATO's eastern flank in response to Russia's growing military aggression, the presence in Poland was left unaffected.

The early foreign policy success further cemented Nowrocki's reputation.

In his first month in office, Nawrocki vetoed seven draft laws favored by the Tusk government.

By comparison, previous president Andrzej Duda, an ally of the Law and Justice party that backed Nawrocki for president, vetoed eight draft laws in 20 months, according to Szymon Hołownia, the speaker of the lower house of parliament.

The draft laws Nawrocki vetoed included one on support for Ukrainian refugees, another allowing windmills to be built closer to homes, and a third on cutting fines for minor tax offences.

In his inauguration speech Aug. 6 in the Polish parliament, Nawrocki promised to be “the voice of those Poles who want a normal Poland – a Poland committed to its values.”

He said he would support big infrastructure projects and social inclusion, and oppose illegal immigration and the adoption of the euro, the common European currency.

The presidential elections result indicates that a coalition of Law and Justice and the far-right would win general elections in two years, and that the balance of power within the right is shifting in favor of more radical parties.

Poland's previous president Duda was widely seen as a “yes man” for the PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, the most powerful man in Poland at that time.

But the rise of the far-right and the new president's combative style seem to indicate Nawrocki will take a different path.

Observers say Nawrocki is well positioned to eventually replace Kaczynski as the new leader of the Polish right.

That could give him even more power over the daily running of Poland than the head of state office in a semi-presidential republic does.

Speaking at a ceremony during Poland's national day on Nov. 11, Nawrocki vowed to resist the country becoming a “parrot of nations," passively echoing Western models.

He later joined over 100,000 participants in an Independence Day march organized by a nationalist association that included far-right groups.

Marchers included families with children and elderly citizens but also men burning flares while carrying banners with slogans “Stop immigration. Time for deportations" and “Stop the Ukrainization of Poland”.

Polish flag in hand, Nawrocki effortlessly blended in.