No double trouble at the top

Jaroslaw Kaczynski has indicated that he will not take the job of Prime Minister if his twin brither Lech wins presidential elections

With sixty percent of the votes counted in the Polish General Election the conservative, Law and Justice have 26.6%, followed by the pro-business Civic Platform with 24.1%. The populist farmer’s union, Self Defense has 12.4% and SLD, outgoing ex-communists SLD have 10.9%, says the Electoral Commission.

The percentage of the votes translates to 151 seats in the Polish parliament, the Sejm, with Civic Platform gaining 123, Self Defense with 67, SLD with 51, the far-right League of Polish families with 36 and the PSL peasant’s party with 30.

A coalition between Law and Justice (PiS) and Civic Platform will form the new government, and negotiations will start soon this week. “We have long said that we want this coalition and there are no reasons why this shouldn’t happen,” said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the favorite to become Poland’s next Prime Minister. kaczynski has indicated, however, that we will only take the job if his twin brother Lech does not win the October 9 presidential elections.

I have tried to find a photo of the two standing together, but they studiously avoid being in the same place at the same time so as not to confuse people.

Talks might be difficult, however. The economic policies of the two parties are notably different, with Civic Platform favoring a low flat- tax and Law and Justice less willing to make harsh reforms to the labor code and tackle Poland’s ballooning budget deficit.