Two months ago, Cimoszewicz was at the top of the race, with over 30 percent support. When I talked to him at that time, he was delighted with the scope of support but expected a dirty campaign.

Cimoszewicz's fears of negative campaigning have proved justified. Explaining his resignation, he said he was the victim of a smear campaign over his personal finances, a campaign of lies, false accusations and slander.

Cimoszewizc admitted that he had made a mistake while declaring his financial assets but denied trying to hide anything, accusing his opponents of blowing the issue out of proportion and using dirty tricks.

According to sociologist Piotr Kwiatkowski of PENTOR he's become too exhausted to stay in the race, with slim chances to get into the second round.

Cimoszewicz's withdrawal has turned the race for presidency into a confrontation between two centre-right candidates, with Donald Tusk of the Civic Platform being the frontrunner. It also dealt a serious blow to the leftist Democratic Left Alliance SLD which backed Cimoszewicz.

Initial polls indeed suggest that 48 year old Tusk, who's campaigning on the slogan 'A Person with Principles', may score an easy win over the conservative Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski.

Cimoszewicz declined to endorse fellow leftist candidate Marek Borowski, leaving his sizeable electorate in a highly difficult situation.

According to all Polish commentators, Cimszewicz's resignation is a strong blow for the left wing, which will take a long time to rebuild.

There is no doubt that the latest developments are also a setback for president Kwasniewski, who saw Cimoszewicz as his successor. Political analyst Krzysztof Mularczyk thinks that the current upheaval on the pre-election scene will have far reaching consequences.

On September 25, two weeks before electing a new president, Poles will be electing a new Parliament. Opinion surveys show the ballot appears to be a done deal with Donald Tusk's Civic Platform outpacing all the other parties.