The 42-year-old Nawrocki was endorsed by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023.

The party is closely allied with outgoing President Andrzej Duda -- who has publicly backed Nawrocki -- and is a long-standing rival of the ruling Civic Coalition.

Final official results released early on Monday showed that Nawrocki won the presidency with 50.89 percent of the vote, against 49.11 percent for his rival, Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, according to the national election commission.

Nawrocki campaigned under the slogan "Poland first, Poles first".

While he has pledged to continue Poland's support for neighbouring Ukraine against Russia's invasion, he has denounced the benefits given to war refugees.

He said in a campaign video in April that "social benefits will be above all for Poles" and that "in queues for doctors and clinics, Polish citizens must have priority".

In May, he claimed Ukraine "has not shown gratitude for what Poles have done" and accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of "insolence".

He opposes Ukraine's bid to join NATO.

- Photos with Trump -

Nawrocki is an admirer of Donald Trump and has said Poland should focus on shaping and leading Europe's relations with the US president.

Nawrocki met Trump at the White House in May and claimed Trump had told him: "You will win".

The two were shown giving a thumbs up in photos released by the White House.

Some lawmakers from the governing coalition accused Trump of election interference.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also endorsed Nawrocki when she attended a conservative conference in Poland, saying: "He needs to be the next president."

Nawrocki has called for controls on the border with Germany to keep out migrants, and would like Berlin to pay wartime reparations to Poland.

While wooing voters during the campaign, Nawrocki signed an eight-point pledge prepared by far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen.

The election campaign also saw Nawrocki embroiled in a series of scandals.

While arguing against a property tax, he claimed to only own one flat. Later it was revealed he had acquired a second one through a convoluted deal with an elderly man.

A bombshell news report also alleged he had arranged prostitutes for guests while working as a hotel security guard.

Nawrocki called the accusations "a bunch of lies" and said he would sue the news site.

Born in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, Nawrocki boxed and played football in his youth before earning a PhD in history and an MBA.

He served as the director of the World War II museum in Gdansk from 2017 to 2021. Since then, he has led the Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes.

His research focused on Poland's anti-communist opposition, organised crime during the communist era and sports history.

Last year, Russia added Nawrocki to its wanted list for his alleged efforts to remove Soviet-era monuments in Poland.

Nawrocki said he obtained a gun licence and firearm after winding up in Russia's crosshairs.

- Dual identity -

Nawrocki has written several books, including one under a pen name that landed him in an unusual controversy.

In 2018, he secretly published a book about the communist-era gangster Nikodem Skotarczak using the pseudonym Tadeusz Batyr.

That same year, a blurred and voice-altered "Batyr" appeared on state television claiming Nawrocki had inspired the book.

Nawrocki later wrote on social media that Batyr had sought his advice and "thanked me with an interesting book, which I recommend".

But local media recently uncovered that Batyr and Nawrocki were one and the same.

Political opponents seized on the revelation.

Nawrocki has also faced accusations of ties to gangsters and neo-Nazis, which he has rejected as "deep manipulation", insisting his contacts were for professional purposes.

"No one has ever heard a good word from me about Nazism," he said.

Nawrocki speaks English and still boxes in his spare time. He has said Poland needs "a strong president for tough times".

He lives with his wife, Marta, and has two children and an adult stepson.

amj/dt/yad/dhw

© Agence France-Presse

That is good news for consumers but not so much for producers, analysts say.

A barrel of Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, stands below $65, a far cry from the more than the $120 reached in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine by major oil producer Russia.

- Lower inflation -

The fall in oil prices has contributed to a global slowdown for inflation, while also boosting growth in countries reliant on importing crude, such as much of Europe.

The US consumer price index, for example, was down 11.8 percent year-on-year in April.

Cheaper crude "increases the level of disposable income" consumers have to be spending on "discretionary items" such as leisure and tourism, said Pushpin Singh, an economist at British research group Cebr.

The price of Brent has fallen by more than $10 compared with a year ago, reducing the cost of various fuel types derived directly from oil.

This is helping to push down transportation and manufacturing costs that may, in the medium term, help further cut prices of consumer goods, Singh told AFP.

But he noted that while the drop in crude prices is partly a consequence of Trump's trade policies, the net effect on inflation remains difficult to predict amid threatened surges to other input costs, such as metals.

At the same time, "cheaper oil can make renewable energy sources less competitive, potentially slowing investment in green technologies", Singh added.

- Oil producers -

As prices retreat however the undisputed losers are oil-producing countries, "especially high-cost producers who at current and lower prices are forced to scale back production in the coming months", said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Oil trading close to or below $60 "will obviously not be great for shale producers" either, said Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon.

"Having lower oil prices is going to be the detriment to their development," he told AFP.

Some companies extracting oil and natural gas from shale rock have already announced reduced investment in the Permian Basin, located between Texas and New Mexico.

For the OPEC+ oil alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, tolerance for low prices varies greatly.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have monetary reserves allowing them to easily borrow to finance diversified economic projects, Leon said.

Hansen forecast that "the long-term winners are likely to be major OPEC+ producers, especially in the Middle East, as they reclaim market shares that were lost since 2022 when they embarked on voluntary production cuts".

The 22-nation group began a series of cuts in 2022 to prop up crude prices, but Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other members surprised markets recently by sharply raising output.

On Saturday, the countries announced a huge increase in crude production for July with an additional 411,000 barrels a day.

Analysts say the hikes have likely been aimed at punishing OPEC members that have failed to meet their quotas, but it also follows pressure from Trump to lower prices.

That is directly impacting the likes of Iran and Venezuela, whose economies depend heavily on oil revenues.

A lower-price environment also hurts Nigeria, which like other OPEC+ members possesses a more limited ability to borrow funds, according to experts.

Bit non-OPEC member Guyana, whose GDP growth has surged in recent years thanks to the discovery of oil, risks seeing its economy slow.

pml-bcp/jkb/aks/js

© Agence France-Presse