KRAKOW, Poland, June 18 (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski paid a powerfully symbolic visit to the tomb of his twin brother, Poland's late president, on Friday, the 61st anniversary of their birth and the last day of campaigning.
Poles will elect a successor on Sunday to Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia on April 10 along with 95 others, including his wife and much of Poland’s political and military elite.
Kaczynski and his wife Maria were buried in the crypt of Wawel cathedral in the ancient capital Krakow, a place traditionally reserved for royalty and national heroes.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his niece, Lech’s daughter Marta, entered the crypt holding red roses and spent 20 minutes there in private prayer and reflection before attending a short mass. Television cameras and journalists were not allowed in.
Kaczynski, looking tired and solemn, made no comment as he left the cathedral to return to the election campaign trail, but he later told a meeting of energy experts in Krakow: "This is a very sad birthday for me."
The crash two months ago triggered an outpouring of sympathy for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister and now leader of the right-wing main opposition Law and Justice party (PiS).
Kaczynski, a bachelor, decided to run for the presidency saying he wanted to safeguard his brother’s legacy. He has proved an astute campaigner, toning down his traditionally aggressive style in a bid to win over middle-of-the-road voters.
This has helped him to narrow the gap with frontrunner Bronislaw Komorowski, but three opinion polls published on Friday confirmed that Kaczynski remained in second place.
Two of the polls showed Komorowski, the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, ahead but short of the 50 percent required to win outright on Sunday. A runoff would then be held on July 4.
A third poll by PBS DGA showed Komorowski, who became Poland’s acting president on Lech Kaczynski’s death in his capacity as speaker of parliament, winning 51 percent on Sunday against Kaczynski’s 33 percent.
Both Komorowski and Kaczynski were due to end their election campaigns on Friday in the Baltic port of Gdansk, cradle of the pro-democracy Solidarity movement to which they both once belonged and which toppled the communist regime in 1989. The former leader of Soldarity, Lech Walesa, and Poland’s first post-communist prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki have both publicly backed Komorowski for the presidency.
