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Poland Presidential Elections Set for June 20

21 April 2010 21:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Bronislaw Komorowski says Poland’s presidential election will be held on June 20, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

A spokesman for Mr. Komorowski said Wednesday that a second round of elections, if necessary, will be held on July 4.

The early election was triggered by the death of President Lech Kaczynski in an April 10 plane crash. Poland’s presidential elections were originally scheduled for later this year.

Early opinion polls predict Mr. Komorowski, a candidate of the Civic Platform party, will come out ahead of potential challengers, including former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The twin brother of the late president has not yet decided to run for office.

Mr. Kaczynski and 95 others died on April 10 while traveling to a memorial service honoring 22,000 Polish officers executed by Soviet forces in the Katyn forest in 1940.

In addition to Mr. Kaczynski, the plane crash near Smolensk, Russia killed the chief of Poland’s armed forces, the director of the central bank, the deputy foreign minister and other top officials.