Polish left picks surprise presidential candidate

 Poland's ex-communist social democrats on Friday tapped a political unknown with model good looks and a doctorate degree in history for the May presidential vote that polls are showing will be won by incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski, AFP reports.

"I want to be the entire Polish left's candidate," 35-year-old Magdalena Ogorek told reporters after the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) announced her candidature.

The tall, blue-eyed blonde, whose last name means "cucumber" in Polish, is an expert in the history of the Catholic Church and frequently appears as a media commentator.

"We're convinced Magdalena Ogorek symbolises the Polish political scene's embrace of the new European generation of Poles," said Leszek Miller, the leader of the opposition party.

Ogorek has been affiliated with the party for years, though Miller said she is not a member.

The frontrunner according to opinion polls is centre-right President Komorowski, an independent who has been in the job since 2010.

Some polls even suggest the 62-year-old, who is close to the Civic Platform (PO) governing party, will clinch victory in the first round.

The conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski -- a former prime minister -- has for its part chosen 42-year-old lawyer Andrzej Duda as its presidential candidate.

Poland's parliamentary elections are also due to take place this year and will pit PiS against the centrist PO, which has been in power since 2007.