Poland sets date

The acting president of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, has announced that the first round of a presidential election will be held on June 20. Under Polish law, if neither candidate has a 50 percent majority, a second round would then be held on July 4.

Komorowski heads the lower house of Poland's parliament and is the current favorite to win the election. He has been acting president since President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were killed along with 94 others when the presidential jet crashed near Smolensk, western Russia.

Komorowski was legally bound to announce a ballot date within two weeks of the president's death on April 10.

Prominent candidates

The acting president is the candidate for Poland's governing Civic Platform (PO) party. He is expected to win the election, and has a large lead in opinion polls.

Opposition may come from Lech Kaczynski's identical twin brother Jaroslaw, a former prime minister. However, he has not made any public statement about his political plans since the crash. His Law and Justice (PiS) party is to meet on Saturday to decide on a candidate.

"I'm convinced that Jaroslaw Kaczynski will stand for president," political scientist Stanislaw Mocek told news agency AFP. "He will want in a sense to fulfil the political destiny of his late brother. And PiS doesn't have any other candidate with enough clout," he added.

Potential presidential candidate for the ex-communist party Democratic Left Alliance, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, was among those killed in the plane crash.

Election committees have until Monday April 26 to announce their candidates. They must then announce their candidacy by May 6 and gather 100,000 signatures of support.

cb/AFP/dpa
Editor: Chuck Penfold