A one-horse race?
The most recent surveys indicate that Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz is storming ahead of his opposition after skillfully shedding his Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) clothing without losing the party's backing.
His closest rival, Warsaw's Law and Justice (PiS) Mayor, Lech Kaczyński, can currently only count on 19 percent support, just over half of the Speaker's 35-percent backing.
The independent Zbigniew Religa, Civic Platform's (PO) Donald Tusk and Self Defense's (SO) Andrzej Lepper received 12, 12, and 11 percent support respectively.
Neither Democratic Party (PD) candidate Henryka Bochniarz, nor independent Stanisław Tymiński, managed to register any support in the survey.
The OBOP poll was conducted before the recent wrangle over Cimoszewicz's appearance at the so-called Orlengate commission, which was established last year to probe accusations by right-wing opposition parties that the previous leftist government had in 2002 illegally detained the then chief executive of Poland's leading oil company, PKN Orlen.
Cimoszewicz told the hearing that he believed his appearance had been politically engineered. "All those MPs whose parties are fielding presidential candidates have an interest in having the front-runner lose his lead," he said. Cimoszewicz refused to answer any questions from committee members before walking out on the hearing. He is due before the hearing again on July 26. (Reuters)
His closest rival, Warsaw's Law and Justice (PiS) Mayor, Lech Kaczyński, can currently only count on 19 percent support, just over half of the Speaker's 35-percent backing.
The independent Zbigniew Religa, Civic Platform's (PO) Donald Tusk and Self Defense's (SO) Andrzej Lepper received 12, 12, and 11 percent support respectively.
Neither Democratic Party (PD) candidate Henryka Bochniarz, nor independent Stanisław Tymiński, managed to register any support in the survey.
The OBOP poll was conducted before the recent wrangle over Cimoszewicz's appearance at the so-called Orlengate commission, which was established last year to probe accusations by right-wing opposition parties that the previous leftist government had in 2002 illegally detained the then chief executive of Poland's leading oil company, PKN Orlen.
Cimoszewicz told the hearing that he believed his appearance had been politically engineered. "All those MPs whose parties are fielding presidential candidates have an interest in having the front-runner lose his lead," he said. Cimoszewicz refused to answer any questions from committee members before walking out on the hearing. He is due before the hearing again on July 26. (Reuters)
