Poland gets a new president
Komorowski
Poland has gone through a rough patch this year. Flooding in the last two months have caused destruction and deaths in Poland as well as Central Europe. Furthermore, the country lost its president, Lech Kaczyński, on April 10 after a tragic plane crash in Russia. A previous post discussed the Polish policy of picking an acting president until an election is determined. Bronisław Komorowski became the acting president for a few months, and he declared the next election June 20.
There were ten candidates running for president. Komorowski, a fervent anti-communist was one of the candidates; Jarosław Kaczyński, the deceased president’s identical twin brother, was also in the race. Poland has a special rule where if none of the candidates have a majority, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates. The second election occurred on July 4, and Komorowski won 52.6% of the votes.
Because of his strong opinions against communism, he is expected to shrink the government. He also would like to pull Polish troops out of Afghanistan by 2012. Because he is Roman Catholic, several Polish bishops have commented on his views, some disagree on his stance on for state-funded in vitro fertilization. Regardless of the criticism, Komorowski stated his non-partisan belief:
“I want my presidency to be one of national accord. I intend to bury past dividing lines with Poland’s future in mind. Poland needs a non-partisan presidency that stands above ideological differences.”1
Read on:
Washington Post – Interim Polish leader Komorowski leads in presidential exit polls
Reuters Africa – Afghan war moves centre-stage in Polish election
Catholic Sentinel – Poland’s new Catholic president assessed
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It’ great that Bronislaw Komorowski, lower house of parliament leader win now.
He is democratic man with european political and culture traditions.
Let it be !