EVEN close colleagues who have worked for them for years have trouble telling the Kaczynski twins apart. The Polish brothers are so similar that to avoid confusion they try not to appear in public together.

The easiest way to distinguish one from the other is apparently by looking for cat hairs — unlike his married brother Lech, bachelor Jaroslaw lives alone with his pets and often forgets to brush their fur off his trousers.

Understanding which is Lech and which is Jaroslaw will be a matter of national importance from now on: the former is Poland’s president and the latter is poised to become its prime minister.

Europe’s most bewildering political partnership will reach its zenith tomorrow. That is when Jaroslaw, leader of the ultra conservative Law and Justice party, is expected to be confirmed by parliament as the new head of government after the resignation of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as prime minister.

The bizarre twist comes after weeks of infighting between parties in the ruling coalition. In the past Jaroslaw ruled out becoming prime minister, in part to spare his countrymen the absurdities that will now arise from the country’s inability to tell its two most powerful politicians apart.

Some of the 56-year-old twins’ closest aides insist that Lech, who was born a few minutes after Jaroslaw and who has been in power for less than a year, has a distinctive mole on his left cheek. But voters complain that it is too small to see on television.

Lech does at least wear a wedding ring, although it is rarely seen by viewers unless he is gesticulating.

For one brief happy period Lech grew a moustache. Then, to the despair of political commentators and ordinary Poles alike, he selfishly shaved it off.

The stout brothers — known to many Poles as the “Kaczory” or ducks — first became famous in 1962 when, as children, they starred as the brothers Jacek and Placek in The Two Who Stole the Moon, a popular Polish film.

They went to the same school and both studied law at Warsaw University before rising to prominence in Lech Walesa’s Solidarity trade union during its confrontation with Poland’s communist regime in 1980.

In 1992 they left the movement after an acrimonious split with Walesa. At the time a satirical puppet show portrayed them as hamsters rooting around in Poland’s political undergrowth.

In a newspaper poll conducted in 1993, Jaroslaw was voted the country’s “biggest political loony”. Lech, who became mayor of Warsaw, was the runner-up.

In 2001 the twins teamed up to found the Law and Justice party, becoming a serious force in Polish politics. Lech built a reputation as a no-nonsense, hardline mayor, known for his crackdowns on crime and banning the city’s gay parade two years running.

Rather than worry about the twins’ fervent nationalism, most Poles are desperately hoping that Lech will now be bold enough to grow back his moustache.

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