Out for the count

Former PM and foreign secretary, Wlodzimirz Cimoszewicz, has withdrawn from the race for the presidential palace.

At a press conference this morning Cimo said that he was throwing in the towel due to 'black propaganda' by his opponents: 'I am pulling out in protest at a dirty campaign of defamation of which my family and I have been victims,.. I cannot urge my supporters to back any other candidate in the presidential race, as none of those running deserves their vote,' he said.

When he announced his candidature last month he went straight to the top of the opinion polls. But after he was accused of withholding information about personal assets in a statement made a couple of years ago, his ratings plummeted.

This leaves only two front runners for head of state – right wingers Donald Tusk - the middle class favourite - and Lech Kaczynski, Mayor of Warsaw.

How those who would have voted for him will react to his resignation is unclear. Some think that the majority of votes will go to candidates who believe in more state intervention in the economy – namely Kaczynski, or even leader of the farmer’s trade union Samoobrona, Andrzej Lepper.