WARSAW, Poland — The incumbent is an aristocrat who embodies Polish tradition. His challengers include a punk rock star, a blond bombshell actress and a renegade vodka producer who once wielded a gun at a news conference.
Poland’s presidential elections Sunday have a colorful cast of candidates whose antics are providing most of the drama because there’s little suspense about the result: President Bronislaw Komorowski is expected to win re-election.
Komorowski, a popular leader aligned with the ruling center-right Civic Platform party, won office in 2010 after his predecessor, Lech Kaczynski, died in a plane crash.
His time in office has been marked by general harmony with his allies in government. He has long enjoyed high approval ratings, though some voters seem to be growing bored by him and Civic Platform, which has been in power since 2007.
That has given a boost to the anti-establishment candidates, most of all for the punk rocker Pawel Kukiz — pronounced like “cookies” — who used to perform in a band called Breasts.
If no candidate wins at least 50 percent Sunday, a runoff will be held May 24. The presidency carries many ceremonial duties, with most power in the hands of the government. However, the president is officially the commander-in-chief and has the power to propose and veto legislation.
Until January, Komorowski had polled well above 50 percent. The most recent surveys predict he will take about 40 percent of the vote Sunday, more than any of his challengers but not enough to avoid a runoff.
The second-most-popular leader in the race is Andrzej Duda of Law and Justice, the nationalist party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the surviving twin brother of the late president. He has taken a strong position against in-vitro fertilization.
One candidate who has captured more attention than respect is Magdalena Ogorek, 36, the candidate for the Democratic Left Alliance. Though she has a doctorate in history, the former actress and TV presenter has no real political experience.
