Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Polish presidential election, 2005
Presidential elections will be held in Poland during 2005, probably in September or October. President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski has served two five-year terms and cannot stand for a third term. The leader of the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) and mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, is so far the only declared candidate.
Significantly, early in 2005 the most popular potential candidates are not professional politicians. Recent polls indicate 15% support for Zbigniew Religa, a prominent cardiologist, and 13% for Tomasz Lis (), a well-known television journalist and author of a book entitled "What's wrong with Poland". Lis has denied any ambitions in the meantime, although some consider this a merely tactical decision. In a surprising move, the shadowy Polish-Canadian businessman Stanisław Tymiński, who achieved an unexpected succès d'estime in 1990, vaguely announced his readiness to run again. Other possible candidates include the president's wife, Jolanta Kwaśniewska, and Andrzej Lepper, leader of the populist party Self-Defence (Samoobrona).
By the end of March 2005, the poll results were:
| Candidate | Party affiliation | Background | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lech Kaczynski | Law and Justice | mayor of Warsaw | 19% |
| Zbigniew Religa | Centrum | physician, professor of cardiology, senator | 17% |
| Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz | Democratic Left Alliance | Sejm chairman, former prime minister and foreign minister | 16% |
| Donald Tusk | Citzens' Platform | chairman of the Citizens' Platform | 14% |
| Andrzej Lepper | Samoobrona | Populist peasant leader | 13% |
| Marek Borowski | Social Democracy of Poland | former Sejm chairman, party leader | 11% |
| Waldemar Pawlak | Polish Peasant Party (PSL) | prime minister 1993-1995 | 5% |
| Maciej Giertych | League of Polish Families (LPR) | European Parliament member, national-conservative former dissident | 3% |
| Wladyslaw Frasyniuk | Democratic Party (Poland) | prominent former liberal dissident, chairman of the Freedom Union (UW), now with new Democratic Party. | 2% |
External links
- Strong and Moral State: Lech Kaczynski Speaks on His Presidential Plans
- [http://www.pbssopot.com.pl/x.php?x=184/Kalkulator-prezydencki.html "Presidential Calculator", Rzeczpospolita]
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