Speaking to public broadcaster Polish Radio on Tuesday, Sikorski said that taking part in this last debate could have benefited the ruling Civic Coalition's (KO) candidate Rafał Trzaskowski, who, however, did not attend.
According to Sikorski, appearing in the debate would have given Trzaskowski an opportunity to reach a different group of voters.
'I would have gone and taken part'
The foreign minister, who lost a primary election to Trzaskowski last year, added that he would have taken part in Monday’s debate as well as another one held by TV Republika last Friday in the central town of Końskie.
"I thought the original idea behind the Końskie format - introduced a few years ago during the previous election - was to break out of one’s own bubble and reach a different audience," Sikorski said when interviewed by Polish Radio's Renata Grochal on Tuesday.
"That’s why I think that participating in a right-leaning media outlet like that would likely have been useful,” he added.
Sikorski also said that Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, “certainly had his reasons” for not attending the TV Republika debates, but added that he would have done the opposite.
"I would have gone and taken part," Sikorski stated.
Polish presidential race heats up
On Friday, two presidential debates took place in Końskie. One was held by TV Republika in the town’s main square and featured five candidates, including Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by the opposition right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The second was jointly moderated by journalists from Poland’s three major TV networks - public broadcaster TVP and commercial stations TVN and Polsat - and aired by all three stations. It featured eight candidates, among them Nawrocki and Trzaskowski.
On Monday, TV Republika hosted another debate at its Warsaw studio, with 10 candidates participating: Nawrocki, Artur Bartoszewicz, Grzegorz Braun, Szymon Hołownia, Marek Jakubiak, Sławomir Mentzen, Joanna Senyszyn, Krzysztof Stanowski, Marek Woch and Adrian Zandberg.
Neither Trzaskowski nor leftist candidate Magdalena Biejat took part in the event.
Poland’s presidential election is set for May 18. If no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held on June 1.
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Source: IAR/PAP/PR3/YouTube.com/@PolskieRadio24pl
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