Maverick MP prepares for elections

At a press conference in his native Lublin, Palikot (pictured left) revealed that he would be running from electoral lists in Warsaw, thus going head-to-head with Prime Minister Donald Tusk as well as major opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Palikot added that candidates from the anti-clerical Racja party would be joining him on his electoral lists, as well as representatives of the Stop Homophobia Association, the Free Hemp Society, as well as “one or two [groups] of this type.”

Palikot, who once sat on the benches of Civic Platform, the key partner in today’s ruling coalition, is well-known for colourful behaviour. He once wangled a gun and a sex toy during a press conference, and his outspoken remarks – he called former president Lech Kaczynski an “oaf” – mean that he is rarely out of the media spotlight.

Although he did not go as far as to reveal names, Palikot also declared that figures from the worlds of sport and music were in line to run as candidates for his party. The entire list will also be composed of equal proportions of men and women, according to the leader.

“Above all, young people should be represented on the lists, people whose adult lives were formed during the Third Republic,” he said, saluting to the generation that grew up after the fall of communism.

Palikot invited members of the public themselves to step forward as potential candidates, thus supplementing his initial lists. Questionnaires can be filled out via his party’s official website.

“It’s time to cure the Polish party system, which is ill and undemocratic,” he said. (nh/jb)

Source: PAP/Onet