Second Stage of Presidential Elections
Poland is in the midst of the second stage of its presidential elections following an inconclusive election earlier this month to replace Lech Kaczynski, the former president who died in the Smolenk plane crash on April 10th 2010.
The most popular candidate to emerge from the first round of elections was Bronislaw Komorowski, the current acting president and member of the Civic Platform (PO) party. Votes in support of Komorowski reached 41% proving to be insufficient for the majority 50% required for an outright victory. In second place was Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of former president Lech Kaczynski, and member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party with 36% of the vote. Third place candidate Grzegorz Napieralski of the Democratic Left Alliance won a surprising number of votes, with 13% of voters showing support for Napieralski.
A run-off election has been set for Sunday 4 July with the top two candidates - Komorowski and Kaczynski - running head to head for the presidential seat. The first of two televised debates took place last weekend with the two candidates answering questions on their positions on the economy, and social and foreign policy. The Polish media have pointed towards Komorowski as the victor of the debate, though there there is still one more debate remaining on Wednesday 30 June. For details on the debate and the presidential election, head to the Krakow Post website.