Lech Kaczynski has said that he wants to run for re-election in the presidential ballot in 2010 and outlined some of the possible themes of a future election campaign.
Kaczynski stresses in an interview with a national daily today that he must do everything to make Poland better governed - therefore he will run again.
President Kaczynski also said that he will not pay attention to opinion polls while making his decision, even though these continually show him behind in popularity to the currently prime minister, Donald Tusk. He reminded that when he started preparing to run for president the last time, the polls gave him only four percent support.
Recent opinion polling on possible presidential candidates show that Prime Minister Donald Tusk would win easily over the current president. Both politicians vied for the post in the elections of 2005.
He said of the difficult cohabitation between the government and Presidential Palace: "All things stem from the fact that [PM Tusk] cannot get over the defeat in the last presidential election. And if someone cannot come to terms with defeat, then there are many things he can do in life, but not in politics," President Kaczynski told the Dziennik daily.
President outlines key issues
The president described signing the agreement on the anti-ballistic missile shield between Poland and the US this week as an "historical moment". He said that his way of thinking is similar to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's - Poland and the US are not afraid of Russian tanks, but want stronger ties between the two countries, which are, according to the head of state, essential for Poland.
Lech Kaczynski also talked about current "threats to Polish-ness" and said that Polish patriotism is in crisis.
What has surprised many, however, is that “the conservative, Catholic politician intends to cooperate with the left wing in Polish politics. According to Kaczynski, Poland is in need of deep changes in social policy and to attain this end, he does not rule out cooperating with the former communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
The president also revealed why he laughed during the first part of PM Tusk's speech during the official signing of the anti-missile shield agreement, in which he said a few sentences in English.
"I am always greatly amused when someone, who speaks English poorly, makes a speech in that language. And I was generally amused by the fact that the Prime Minister does not conform to the European custom of letting the President speak before the Prime Minister," explained Kaczynski.
Kaczynski himself speaks little or no English, critics have commented. (mo)