Ewa Malcher
Andrzej Duda and Bronisław Komorowski, the two candidates for the 24 May second round of the presidential elections, continue their campaign trail ahead of a live TV debate on Sunday.
Both have been working hard to gain the upper hand after neither gathered a majority in the first round of the election on 10 May.
Incumbent President Bronisław Komorowski, who is campaigning for a second term in office, has attained the support of EC President Donald Tusk.
The former Polish Prime Minister has endorsed Komorowski, saying “We all know that Komorowski was, is, and – I hope – will be a good President.”
Tusk added that “perhaps [Komorowski] is not the candidate who can fight the best,” but there is no better alternative.
Other people who have supported Komorowski in the second round, include Leszek Miller, the head of the Polish People's Party (PSL). PSL's candidate, Magdalena Ogórek, garnered just 1.6 percent in the first round of the elections.
Komorowski has also recently released a new campaign video which includes his children and grandchildren. This is the first time the politician's children have featured in their father's campaigning.
Andrzej Duda, the candidate of the the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, has also been gathering support. On Saturday he turned up with Piotr Duda, the head of the Solidarity trade union, who had pledged the support for the PiS candidate in the first round.
The two were asked about comments made on Friday by economist Leszek Balcerowicz that “Andrzej Duda is a younger version of [Jarosław] Kaczyński.”
Kaczyński is the leader of the PiS party but has not been in the limelight during the presidential campaign.
Referring to Balcerowicz's comments, Andrzej Duda said that “It is some people's hobby to offend other candidates during an election campaign.”
He added that “the man who made those comments is not an adversary of mine [in this campaign] for the Presidential seat, so I hope you will understand that I will be commenting on that.”
Meanwhile, Solidarity's Piotr Duda said that, “I know that professor Balcerowicz is a frustrated individual.”
Komorowski and Duda will meet each other for their first TV debate on Sunday. They did not meet in the first round of the election. (rg)
