Poland's Popular President to Seek Second Term

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said Thursday he would run for a second term in May elections that opinion polls suggest the popular center-right head of state will win by a large margin.

The 62-year-old, who has been in the job since 2010 and is close to the Civic Platform (PO)governing party, will notably be up against a transsexual lawmaker and a political unknown with supermodel good looks.

Komorowski told reporters he was "encouraged by the high ratings of my performance".

He vowed to defend Polish competitiveness and security "at this time of uncertainty", when many in Poland are anxious over Russia's role in the deadly crisis in neighboring Ukraine.

He added that the president should have the necessary "skills and experience" to fulfill the role of supreme commander of the armed forces. Komorowski himself served as defense minister from 2000 to 2001. 

Surveys show that he may even win re-election at the first round on May 10. A possible run-off vote is set for May 24.

Komorowski scored 65 percent of the vote in a mid-January Millward Brown opinion poll.

The candidate from the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, lawyer Andrzej Duda, trails behind with 21 percent.

In third place with six percent is Magdalena Ogorek, the political unknown with a doctorate in history -- and a last name that translates to "cucumber" -- who is running for the ex-communist SLD social democrats. 

The Green Party has backed 60-year-old Anna Grodzka, who was elected the staunchly Catholic country's first transsexual lawmaker in 2011.

Flamboyant tycoon-turned-politician Janusz Palikot from the center-left Your Movement party has also thrown his hat in the ring.

Komorowski won the 2010 run-off against PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. He chose not to run this time around.