Grzegorz Schetyna (pictured) was elected as the new speaker of the lower house of parliament, Thursday evening - which means, constitutionally, he is the third acting president Poland has had in just one day. Confused?

Schetyna (Civic Platform) was voted in by 277 MPs for, 121 against and 16 abstentions.

Schetyna’s election by MPs followed president-elect Bronisław Komorowski’s resignation today as speaker of the lower house of parliament (or Sejm) after his win in the presidential elections last Sunday. This means he also resigns his duties as acting president, a role he undertook after the death of Lech Kaczynski on April 10.

Poland’s constitution states that on the death of a head of state the speaker of the lower house must take over his or her duties, until elections can democratically choose a new president.

And then it gets really confusing...

Under the rules, until a new speaker was voted by the lower house - a matter of just a few hours - the oldest current deputy speaker, Stefan Niesiołowski ( he's 66) took over the speaker’s role, until MPs could vote on a successor.

In the meantime, the role of acting president - a role which will be in place until Komorowski is formally sworn in as president in a few weeks time - was taken over by speaker of the upper house, the Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz: making him Poland's second acting president on Thursday.

On the election of Grzegorz Schetyna as speaker of the Sejm this evening, he will now undertake the duties of head of state until Komorowski is sworn as president in August. That makes him the third acting president in a busy day.