Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that he will not be running in Poland’s presidential election this autumn. Photo: www.kprm.gov.pl
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has surprised many of his supporters and announced that he will not be running in Poland’s presidential election this autumn.
"Government must be hard as a rock, with solid foundations [...] The presidential election is important but it's more about prestige, it's not an instrument for successful governance [...] We [Civic Platform] have worked too hard to let go," he told reporters, Thursday morning.
The announcement will come as shock to many in the Civic Platform party as the prime minister was the overwhelming favourite to win the ballot later this year.
Tusk is calculating that staying on as prime minister till scheduled general elections in 2011 will give Civic Platform a better chance of winning. But who will be Civic Platform’s candidate in the presidential election? The odds on bet is now speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski.
Source: PAP, IAR
Latest opinion polls:
Tusk on top , thenews.pl 27.01.2010
Should Tusk run for president? thenews.pl 23.01.2010
President Tusk? thenews.pl 2.01.2010
Who has said they will run for president?
Jerzy Szmajdziński will be the Democratic Left Alliance candidate. A member of the lower house of parliament since 1990 Szmajdziński was minister of defence from 2001 to 2005.
Andrzej Olechowski – Was an independent candidate in the 2000 presidential election. Could be supported by the centre-ist Democratic Party this time. Two years later founded, alongside Donald Tusk the Civic Platform party in 2002. He was a former minister of finance and foreign affairs in the first half of the 1990s.
Tomasz Nalecz – Will run for the Social Democracy of Poland left wing party. Was formerly a prominent member of the Labour Union.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke – candidate supported by conservative-free market Union of Real Politics. Has stood in several presidential elections since 1989. Usually gets one percent of popular vote.
Marek Jurek – Leader of the Right Republic party, former member of Law and Justice.
Probable candidates
Lech Kaczynski – incumbent president, Law and Justice candidate looking to become only the second president to win two consecutive terms in office after Aleksander Kwasniewski.
Ewa Kierzkowska – Polish Peasant’s Party (PSL) have indicated that they intend to chose a woman as their candidate. That means probably depity speaker of the lower house of parliament, Ewa Kierzkowska, the party’s most prominent woman politician. The party say they will officially name a candidate in the first quarter of the year. (pg)
Related story:
Tusk meets Komorowski to talk elections thenews.pl 22.01.2010