Poland's Parliament Announces Date for Presidential Election

Poland's parliament speaker on Wednesday set June 20 as the date for an early presidential election after the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash, kicking off an election season overshadowed by the tragedy.

Photo: Poland's Parliament Announces Date for Presidential Election

The April 10 plane crash killed not only Kaczynski of the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party, but also Jerzy Szmajdzinski, the candidate for the Democratic Left Alliance. Both parties have been deep in mourning and have not yet chosen new candidates, The Associated Press reported.

Bronislaw Komorowski is head of the lower house of Poland's parliament and is the current favorite to win the election. He has been acting president since Kaczynski and his wife were killed along with 94 others when the presidential jet crashed near Smolensk, western Russia.

Komorowski was legally bound to announce a ballot date within two weeks of the president's death on April 10, according to Deutsche Welle.