Poland:Poland's liberal opposition, with a slim poll lead ahead of Sunday's general election, has accused the ruling national conservatives of using smear tactics to influence the outcome.
Four different surveys show the liberal Civic Platform (PO) with a lead of between three and nine points over the Law and Justice (PiS) party of prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
PO leader Donald Tusk went on the warpath yesterday, accusing Mr Kaczynski of using the Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) to smear his rivals and win back vital support.
Polish television broadcast secretly filmed footage of PO deputy Beata Sawicka accepting a large wad of cash from a CBA officer posing as a businessman.
Ms Sawicka made a tearful appearance on television claiming all was not as it appeared on the tape. She accused the CBA of setting a "honey trap" for her and claimed the officer had "romanced" her for a year - on the tape he is seen giving her a bunch of flowers.
"Please don't lynch me in public," she wept, saying she was "fighting for her life".
PO leaders have tried to limit the damage, saying Ms Sawicka "told myths" about her influence in the party to the officer. The PO claims that the timing of the release was politically motivated were rejected by the government but accepted by several non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
"It is a real scandal this crime - and it is a real crime - occurred," said Grazyna Kopinska, director of the anti-corruption unit at Warsaw's Batory Foundation. "But in my opinion it was a police provocation. They misused legitimate tools for political ends."
The promise to tackle endemic corruption won the election for PiS in 2005 and, on taking office the government set up the CBA, a police unit with special powers.
It has made several high-profile arrests, but NGOs are concerned about the legality of its methods and the reliability of its results.
Despite the apparent poll lead, PO leaders are warning their election candidates against celebrating too soon: in 2005 the party's lead evaporated in the final days of campaigning and it was overtaken by PiS on election night.
"The election race is still completely wide open," Prof Andrzej Rychard of the Centre of Social Studies told the newspaper Dziennik.
Meanwhile the government in Warsaw has said a record number of Poles living abroad have registered to vote in Sunday's election.
"By yesterday's [ deadline] 174,012 Poles interested in casting a vote in the upcoming election had registered," said Pawel Kowal, the deputy foreign minister.
Polish embassies will man 205 polling stations abroad on Sunday.
About 22,000 Poles living in Ireland have registered to cast their votes at three centres in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
In the 2005 election only about 40,000 Poles around the world registered to vote. An estimated two million people have emigrated from Poland in recent years.