The leader of Poland’s conservative opposition on Saturday ruled himself out of the running for prime minister in this year’s parliamentary election, and instead nominated a female lawmaker who is considered less divisive. After more than two decades at the forefront of Polish politics, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he wouldn’t put himself at the center of this year’s campaign, and instead threw his support behind Beata Szydlo. Ms. Szydlo is widely credited with softening the conservative party’s image and, as campaign chief, helping Andrzej Duda secure a five-year term in May’s presidential election.
Opinion polls put the conservative Law and Justice party ahead of the eight-year-old center-right ruling camp, which has been weakened by a series of scandals, in this fall’s election.
Victory would mean the party would hold both top executive positions in Poland’s government, for the first time since Mr. Kaczynski was prime minister and his identical twin brother, Lech, held the presidency about a decade ago.
Mr. Kaczynski governed in a fragmented parliament and lost a snap election in 2007. In 2010, he lost the presidential election called after his brother was killed in a plane crash in Russia.
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