The global financial crisis, flooding in Poland and the Smolensk disaster were the main themes in the last months of the election campaign.

[6] After President Lech Kaczyński's death in a plane crash on 10 April 2010, the Constitution required the Marshal of the Sejm to declare the date within two weeks, with the election to take place on a weekend within the following 60 days, i.e. 20 June at the latest.

[8] Originally, Kaczyński was up for re-election between 19 September and 3 October; the exact date would have been announced between 23 May and 23 June, before the end of his first five-year term of office.

[13] Bronisław Komorowski's campaign slogan was "Unity builds" (Zgoda buduje) and his strategy was to portray himself as an independent politician ready to work with everyone to fix the nation's problems.

He pledged to work closely with the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to adopt the euro in about five years, end the unpopular military mission in Afghanistan and promote pro-market reforms.

[19] Jarosław Kaczyński's campaign slogan was "Poland is the most important" (Polska jest najważniejsza) and he aimed to soften his own image and present himself as someone ready for compromise.

He made it a priority to fight crime and corruption, scale back market reforms to preserve a strong welfare state and promote Roman Catholic values [19] There were 10 candidates in the first round of voting.

[47] Komorowski's win resulted in Civic Platform holding both the Presidency and the government (under Prime Minister Donald Tusk).

[51] Correspondents in US and British business newspapers suggested that Komorowski's win would mean closer engagement with the European Union,[52] and such domestic economic reforms as deficit reduction.