Polish Presidential election likely to be held on June 20

The parliament speaker said Wednesday that he would announce the date of the presidential election on April 21, meaning that the election will be held June 20.

Bronislaw Komowski, who also is acting president, met with his deputies and leaders of parliamentary caucuses and said at a news conference later that "we reached full agreement."

Earlier Wednesday, the minister of the Sejm Chancellery, Lech Czapla, told reporters that the early presidential election might be held either June 13 or June 20.

"But if it was to be held on June 13, the Sejm speaker must call it today," he said.

Komorowski, the parliamentary speaker of the ruling Civic Platform party, assumed the duties of President Lech Kaczynski, who died in an April 10 plane crash.

The speaker and acting president said April 11 he would defer to the wishes of the two main opposition parties, which lost their presidential candidates and other senior officials in the crash.

The presidential couple, together with 94 others, died in an air crash in Smolensk, western Russia, on Saturday morning.

The Polish constitution stipulates that if a president dies in office, the speaker of parliament assumes his duties and must decide on an election date within 14 days, with the election to follow no less than 60 days after that.

Political parties must submit names of their candidates, with original signatures of 100,000 registered voters attached, no less than 45 days before the election. Elections must take place on a Sunday.

Source: Xinhua