The surviving members of the Polish political elite turned their attention Monday to the delicate task of reconstituting the country’s leadership after a plane crash killed President Lech Kaczynski, heads of key institutions, lawmakers and military chiefs.
It was a delicate, often distasteful, task. The Polish people are still mourning in streets littered with dying flowers and slick with hardened puddles of candle wax. Kaczynski’s body was brought back to Poland, but the remains of the other 95 dead were taken to Moscow for identification.
The chamber of the Sejm, or lower house of parliament, sat empty Monday. Bunches of red and white flowers marked the vacant seats of the 14 dead lawmakers, and the golden nameplates on their office doors were crossed out with black ribbons.
Full story: Poland ponders how to fill leaders’ empty seats – LATimes.com