WARSAW, Poland (AP) – The incumbent is an aristocrat who embodies Polish tradition. His challengers include a punk rock star, a blonde bombshell actress and a renegade vodka producer who once wielded a gun at a press conference.
Poland’s presidential elections Sunday have a colorful cast of candidates whose antics are providing most of the drama, because there’s little suspense about the result: President Bronislaw Komorowski expected to easily win re-election.
Komorowski, a popular leader aligned with the ruling center-right Civic Platform party, won office in 2010 after his predecessor, Lech Kaczynski, died in a plane crash.
His time in office has been marked by general harmony with his allies in government. He has long enjoyed high approval ratings, though some voters seem to be growing bored by him and Civic Platform, which has been in power since 2007. That has given a boost to the anti-establishment candidates, most of all for the punk rocker Pawel Kukiz – pronounced like “cookies” – who used to perform in a band called “Breasts.”
If no candidate wins at least 50 percent on Sunday, a runoff will be held on May 24. The presidency carries many ceremonial duties, with most power in the hands of the government. However, the president is also officially the commander-in-chief and has the power to propose and veto legislation.