Andrzej Duda speaks at an Independence Day rally on Tuesday in Krakow. Photo: PAP/Stanislaw Rozpedzik.
“I will recommend such a decision to the party,” Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said at an Independence Day rally in Krakow on Tuesday, adding that Duda is “the candidate of all those who want a strong Poland.”
The 42-year-old candidate, who was also present at Tuesday's rally, declared that “if I am elected, my presidency will be a dynamic, active one.”
Duda was an advisor to the late president Lech Kaczynski, who died in the 2010 Smolensk air disaster. Jaroslaw's Kaczynski's twin brother has the status of a martyr in conservative circles.
Law and Justice press spokesman Marcin Mastalerek has told Polish Radio that Duda “has views just like Lech Kaczynski's, he models himself on him, and he wants to carry out [the late president's] political aims.”
Krakow-born Duda is a former scout, and he is married to a school teacher.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, whose party has traditionally championed itself as a formation that stands up to corruption, made the announcement concerning Duda just days after expelling 3 party members over an expenses scandal.
President Bronislaw Komorowski, who had been a member of ruling party Civic Platform before his election, has not yet announced his candidacy for a second term in office. However, he is expected to run.
In a recent poll by CBOS, Komorowski emerged as the most trusted figure in Polish politics, with 80 percent of those surveyed backing the current president.
Former prime minister Donald Tusk, who will serve as president of the European Council from 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, garnered less positive ratings over the last 12 months. Tusk is already being tipped as a potential candidate for the presidency of Poland on his return from Brussels. (nh)