POLAND POLITICS Twins hope to win prime minister, presidential races

The brothers gained public attention at age 12 when they co-starred in a movie.
WASHINGTON POST
GDANSK, Poland -- When they were kids, the Kaczynski twins were a pair of tricksters. Friends could barely tell them apart, let alone teachers.
Jaroslaw, the older by 45 minutes, would take science tests for his brother, Lech, who would return the favor on language exams.
Now the Kaczynski brothers are teaming up again, this time in a bid to take over the Polish government. Lech is running for president Oct. 9.
Jaroslaw is mounting a separate campaign to become prime minister in parliamentary elections that voters will decide Sunday.
The brothers' Law and Justice Party, of which Jaroslaw Kaczynski is chairman, is locked in a dead heat with its chief rival, the Civic Platform, for control of parliament, opinion surveys show. Lech Kaczynski, the mayor of Warsaw, is trailing in the presidential contest by a several-point margin, according to recent polls.
But analysts said that both contests remain highly volatile and that there is a real chance the twins could gain joint control of the country.
Familiar faces
The Kaczynskis' chubby faces have been a familiar sight in Poland since 1962, when as 12-year-old child actors they hit it big in the movies, playing identical twins in the classic Polish flick "Those Two Who Would Steal the Moon."
They returned to prominence in the 1980s by playing key roles in the Solidarity trade union movement that helped end communism in Poland, and they have remained active in national politics since then.
The brothers, now 56, have had to confront skittishness among some voters who worry it might not be a good idea for the temperamental, tough-talking twins to take charge of Poland at the same time.
To dispel such anxiety, Jaroslaw Kaczynski has pledged to hand over the prime minister's job to someone else in their Law and Justice Party should both he and his sibling win.
Many Poles are skeptical that the brothers would willingly give up power, however. That notion is reinforced by Lech Kaczynski himself, who wouldn't rule out the possibility in an interview on Wednesday in Gdansk, the Baltic seaport and the birthplace of Solidarity.
"My brother said that if I win, he won't serve as prime minister," he said, a grin spreading across his face. "I think that would be a limitation of our civil rights.
Pivotal point
The elections come at a pivotal moment for Poland, one of the United States' most loyal allies and a member of the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.
Sixteen years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the economy is still struggling to complete the transition to capitalism. The jobless rate stands at 18 percent, the highest in Europe. Businesses are trying to become competitive internationally, especially after Poland opened its borders to join the European Union last year.