Polish twin in presidency bid

JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI, the twin brother of Poland’s late president Lech Kaczynski, said yesterday he would be the candidate of his right-wing opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) in a presidential election.

Poles are due to elect a new president on June 20 following the death of Lech Kaczynski, along with 95 other people, mostly senior Polish officials, in a plane crash in Russia on April 10.

“The tragically curtailed life of the president, the death of Poland’s patriotic elite, means just one thing for us: we must finish their mission,” Kaczynski said in a statement.

“Poland is our great shared obligation. We are required to overcome our personal pain and to take on this mission despite the personal tragedy. That’s why I have taken the decision to run for the presidency of Poland.”

The crash delivered a blow to Poland’s body politic and plunged the country into a week of deep mourning.

But despite an upsurge of sympathy for the Kaczynski family, opinion polls still show acting president Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Poland’s centrist ruling Civic Platform, as the most likely victor.