Key opposition player insists Kaczyński remains PM candidate

“There is a lot of noise in the media, and various pieces of information are appearing,” Law and Justice's Beata Szydło told public broadcaster TVN.

“But we will win the upcoming [general] election and Jarosław Kaczyński will be prime minister,” she added.

There had been speculation following Sunday's election that Szydło herself might be a candidate for the job of prime minister, having successfully steered Duda to victory in spite of the 43-year-old starting as the underdog to outgoing president Bronisław Komorowski.

Current party head Jarosław Kaczynski, who will turn 66 next month, was conspicious by his absence during the campaign, leaving the spotlight to focus on his young protégé Duda.

Former deputy prime minister Ludwik Dorn, who served in the Law and Justice-led government of 2005-2007, said on Tuesday that he had “an intuition” that Szydło would emerge as the party's candidate to be prime minister in the run-up to the autumn election.

However, it appears that Szydło is keen to quell such speculation. (nh)

Source: TVN/TVP