The day Poland had 3 Presidents

On Thursday, July 8 if you asked who is the current President of Poland there were three correct answers depending on what hour of the day you asked the question. Following the April 10 death of president Lech Kaczyński, Bronisław Komorowski, as Marshal of the Sejm (lower house) automatically became the acting president while still maintaining his day job as head of parliament.

When Komorowski gave up the marshal’s job Thursday morning after winning the presidential election, I got an e-mail stating senate speaker Bogdan Borusewicz became acting president. His fifteen minutes of fame lasted for about 10 hours. I got another e-mail declaring lawmakers elected Grzegorz Schetyna as Marshall of the Sejm, making him acting president until Komorowsk’s official inauguration this August.

In comparison, the shortest serving American President was William Henry Harrison from Ohio who served only 31 days. He caught pneumonia giving a two-hour long inauguration speech on a cold and rainy day.