Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Twin brother of Poland’s late president Lech Kaczynski running in early presidential race

Polish opposition party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Monday he will run in summer elections to replace his twin brother, the incumbent president who was killed in a plane crash.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he will run to continue the mission of his brother and others killed in the crash.

“The good of Poland is a common duty that requires an ability to overcome personal suffering, to undertake the task despite a personal tragedy,” Kaczynski said.

“This is why I have taken the decision to run for the president of Poland. I have the family’s support in this decision.”

The elections were moved up to June 20 after President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others — including top civilian and military leaders — were killed April 10 in Smolensk, Russia, en route to World War II observances. The president’s term was to expire in December and elections had been planned for the fall.

The incumbent had been expected to seek a second five-year term.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s closest family are his mother, Jadwiga and niece Marta, the daughter of the late president.

Kemi Adegoke and Chuka Umunna: British Parliamentary Candidates

Two British Nigerians are contesting in the British general elections for May 6, 2010. Although Kemi Adegoke and Chuka Umunna are contesting on different political parties and represent different constituencies, they both share some things together. They are British Nigerians, Black British politicians and lawyers. They represent a young generation of brilliant and talented British citizens with African heritage.

Kemi Adegoke

Kemi Adegoke was born in Wimbledon in 1980 by Nigerian Parents. She moved back to United Kingdom in 1996 after schooling in Nigeria.

In 2003, Kemi obtained an Engineering Degree from the University of Sussex. She completed a degree in Law at the University of London (Birkbeck College) in 2009.  She is also a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society and currently works as a systems analyst at the RBS group. 

Kemi Adegoke will be representing the Conservative party as the party’s parliamentary candidate. Kemi Adegoke would be contesting against Tessa Jowell in the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency at the next election.

Kemi is active in the local community as a school governor at St. Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham and at Jubilee Primary school in Tulse Hill.   She takes a keen interest in housing, education and youth issues in South London and apart from her activities as a school governor, is also a board member of Charlton Triangle Housing Association.   In her spare time she also teaches chess to pupils at the Bishop Challoner School For Girls in Tower Hamlets.

In 2006 and 2007, Kemi worked on the Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy group set up by David Cameron.  She was the project leader covering corruption and governance.

In a recent interview with Checkout magazine, Kemi said “she got her political inspiration from the former British First Female Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher.” Margaret Thatcher was a huge political figure who will go down in the world’s political history as the most pragmatic female politician ever produced by British politics.

To know more about Kemi Adegoke and her political manifesto, click here to visit her website.

Chuka Umunna

Chuka Umunna was born in October, 1978. He is a British Nigerian. He is a political activist and commentator, and an employment lawyer. In March 2008, he was chosen by local Labour Party members as the party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Streatham constituency.

Umunna is the grandson of High Court Judge Helenus Milmo and nephew of leading libel lawyer Patrick Milmo

Chuka Umunna is a brilliant and articulate employment lawyer who continues to enjoy publicity in the British media, as he is often mentioned as a likely replica of an Obama political figure in the UK. The vibrant youthful politician, Chuka, has recently expressed his deep concern alongside Britain’s Foreign Minister, David Milliband on the political situation in Nigeria, especially on issues around the sickness of Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’adua, which is shrouded in secrecy. Chuka has reeled out his alluring manifestoes to the electorate in Streatham and its constituency areas, which he has emphasized to be his priorities if elected into the parliament.

He graduated with a 2:1 degree in English and French law from the University of Manchester, he started his legal career as a solicitor at the international law firm, Herbert Smith, in the City of London where Umunna mostly acted for large employers. In 2006, he moved to the central London law firm, Rochman Landau, where he is a representative for employee rights. As an employment lawyer, Umunna often speaks and writes on employment issues.

I wish both of them the best in their political career.

Mourning day in Poland: Polish President Lech Kaczynski and First lady, Maria Kaczynski die in Plane crash

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died Saturday in a plane crash in Russia, was a one-time anti-communist activist who teamed up with his twin brother to take his country in a nationalist, conservative direction.

Kaczynski, 60, pursued a strongly pro-U.S. line in foreign relations, in accordance with a cross-party consensus that has grown in Poland since the fall of communism. He was an enthusiastic backer of plans to site a U.S. missile defense facility in the country, the largest of the European Union's new eastern members.

However, the prickly nationalism of Kaczynski and his identical twin brother, Jaroslaw — who served for a time as prime minister and is now opposition leader — sometimes complicated ties with European neighbors and Russia.

Kaczynski served as Poland's justice minister in 2000-2001, and his tough stance against crime laid the foundations for the popularity that would fuel his later rise to the presidency.

He became mayor of Warsaw in 2001, and won respect for a no-nonsense style and plain-speaking reputation.

Our country needs renewal, the renewal of public life," Kaczynski has said.

Kaczynski's popularity declined as head of state, however. In 2007, his identical twin brother was voted out as prime minister after a two-year stint in which he failed to hold together a shaky coalition with small, unpredictable populist parties.

Kaczynski was a firm friend of Poland's Jewish community, which has enjoyed a revival in recent years after it was nearly wiped out in the Holocaust and later suffered from communist-era repression.

Kaczynski was killed along with wife, Maria, an economist. He is survived by the couple's daughter, Marta; two granddaughters, Ewa and Martyna; his twin brother, Jaroslaw; and the twins' mother, Jadwiga.

Related Posts:

•  Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other died in plane crash in western Russia

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other died in plane crash in western Russia

Polish President Lech Kaczynski including the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia. The fatal plane crash killed at least 96 passengers who were on board.

Late President Lech Kaczynski

Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.


Related Posts:

• Mourning day in Poland: Polish President Lech Kaczynski and First lady, Maria Kaczynski die in Plane crash

Prime Minister,Tymoshenko,withdraws vote challenge.

By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Writer
Ukraine's PM Tymoshenko withdraws vote challenge

KIEV, Ukraine – Embattled Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko on Saturday withdrew her legal challenge to the presidential runoff vote, claiming she could not win because the court refused to consider documents that she said showed election fraud.

Tymoshenko lost the Feb. 7 runoff to pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych by just 3.5 percentage points. She has refused to concede and urged a full re-count, claiming that more than 1 million votes had been falsified or miscounted.

"We see no sense to further consider the appeal," Tymoshenko told officials at Ukraine's Administrative Court.
Later she said she was forced into the move by Ukraine's tainted justice system.

"I faced a machine that works beyond justice," she told reporters. "They want to sanctify the fraud and make it look legal."
Judge Alexander Nechitailo said the court would accept the withdrawal but rejected any criticism of its procedures.
"The court thinks the facts listed in Mrs. Tymoshenko's appeal were not proven," he said.

Unlike past elections in Ukraine, international observers deemed the 2010 election free and fair, and Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, congratulated Yanukovych on his victory.

A Yanukovych party official called Tymoshenko's decision on Saturday "fairly predictable."

"The lack of proof forced Tymoshenko to admit the obvious fact — that Viktor Yanukovych won the election," said Anna German, the vice chairwoman of the Party of Regions.

One respected Ukrainian analyst said the Orange Revolution heroine withdrew her appeal after realizing that Yanukovych's forces could successfully pressure the court.

"Tymoshenko understood that she is losing time, that she can't win in the court that is controlled by Yanukovych," analyst Yuri Yakemenko said.

But Vadim Karasyov of the Global Strategies Institute in Kiev said the withdrawal — a major shift in Tymoshenko's tactics — hints toward a possible secret deal she has made with Yanukovych to keep her Orange Coalition in parliament.

"She decided to give up her fight for presidency to focus on keeping her seat as prime minister," he told The Associated Press. "Yanukovych will become a legitimate president, but as his inauguration present he will receive Tymoshenko, a full-time premier who is absolutely legal, controls the parliament and is not going anywhere."

Yanukovych's party has been trying to create a new parliament coalition that could oust Tymoshenko from her post.

Tymoshenko led the 2004 Orange Revolution democracy protests that lead to a court's overturning Yanukovych's 2004 presidential election victory due to vote fraud. A court-ordered rerun was won by her ally, Viktor Yushchenko.

But the two Orange leaders quickly fell out, contributing to a paralyzed political system. Their constant bickering aggravated Ukraine's economic woes as the nation of 43 million reeled amid a steep recession.
Also Saturday, Yushchenko congratulated his former bitter rival Yanukovych on his "legitimate" election victory, according to the outgoing leader's Web site, and expressed hope that Yanukovych will unite the nation and "defend" its nascent democratic traditions.
Some of Yushchenko's supporters in parliament are expected to join a coalition with Yanukovych's party.

Yushchenko got only 5.5 percent of the vote in the Jan. 17 first round of presidential voting. But rather than throw his support behind Tymoshenko, he urged his supporters to vote "against all."
Yanukovych is to be inaugurated as president on Feb. 25.