Aside the mainstream politicians to step forward as candidates for Poland’s June 20 presidential elections there are a number of obscure candidates, the names of which will make even some Poles scratch their heads and say, “Who?”

Fringe candidates include a nationalist, pensioner and a businessman.

Ludwik Wasiak seems to be the most controversial candidate to register with the National Electoral Commission. Wasiak is a member of the Polish Rifle Squads, a pro-independence paramilitary organization, and also the far-right nationalist Roman Dmowski National Alliance movement.

He wears a military uniform and makes no secret of his nationalist views. “Poland should be for Poles and should be ruled by Poles,” said Wasiak at a Polish expats reunion in Uruguay in 2008, organized by controversial businessman Jan Kobylanski. Wasiak wants to fight against “Jewish rule in Poland.” 

Another obscure candidate is 71-year-old Bogdan Szpryngiel, a former farmer, now pensioner, who used to be a member of the National Party of Retirees and Pensioners and a member of the eurosceptic Libertas party.

Szpryngiel advocates lower taxes and thinks that same sex relationships are “unnatural”.

Other fringe candidates include 55-year-old Roman Sklepowicz - entrepreneur and founder of the Association for the Victims of the Banking and Legal Systems - and Boguslaw Zietek, co-founder and head of the radical Sierpien (August) 80’ free trade union and leader of the Polish Labour Party.  

Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Self-Defence party – who has been involved in a series of scandals and charged with several criminal offences, has also registered himself as a candidate for president. (mg/pg)