CBOS poll: Kwasniewski to amass a landslide victory in the first round

Incumbent President Aleksander Kwasniewski has maintained his popularity gaining the support of 62% of voters if the presidential elections, slated for October, were held today. According to a recent poll conducted by the Social Opinion Research Center (CBOS), Kwasniewski is far ahead of his closest rivals Andrzej Olechowski and Solidarity Election Action (AWS) leader Marian Krzaklewski who would win 10% and 6% of the vote respectively. Former President Lech Walesa has failed to attract sympathy even after being exonerated by the Screening Court for alleged collaboration with the communist-era secret service (SB). His popularity rating remains at 4% which is only slightly better than that of Andrzej Lepper, the extremist head of the farmers trade union Samoobrona. Despite the aggressive campaign being waged by AWS Krzaklewski, his popularity has dropped a point to 6% and there is a sense of panic in AWS among those that were expecting a Krzaklewski-Kwasniewski race in the second round. As of now 41% of respondents say that Kwasniewski will gain more than 51% of the votes in the first-round eliminating the need for a run-off. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 3)