The conservative Law and Justice party candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski has gained the 100,000 signatures needed to run in the June 20 elections.

Deputy head of Law and Justice, Adam Lipinski, told journalists Friday that it only took one day to meet the requirements by the Election Commission.

“We already have the 100,000 signatures needed but we want to collect as many as possible,” Lipinski added, saying that PiS will be collecting signatures until May 4-5.

Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, head of Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s presidential campaign, also announced that the daughter of the late presidential couple, Marta Kaczysnka, will also be helping in the campaign.

Lipinski continued, saying that earlier plans for the PiS presidential campaign simply “decomposed”, and the Smolensk tragedy in early April has meant the campaign strategy has had to change radically.

However, the PiS heavyweight denounced media speculation that the Smolensk catastrophe will be used in Law and Justice’s favour, saying that the campaign started after all the funerals had taken place of those who perished in Russia and that in fact “everything [what happened at Smolensk] is hanging over us.”

Out of the other presidential hopefuls, Bronislaw Komorowski, acting head of state and Civic Platform’s candidate, as well as the Polish Peoples Party Waldemar Pawlak, currently Economy Minister in Donald Tusk’s coalition government, have managed to gather their signature quotas. (jb)