Warsaw ? The president of Poland appointed his identical twin as prime minister Monday, putting the country’s most powerful jobs in the hands of 57-year-olds with virtually the same round faces, silver crops of hair and conservative outlooks.

President Lech Kaczynski formally appointed his brother Jaroslaw, a lawyer, member of parliament and chairman of the governing Law and Justice party, during an evening ceremony in an opulent hall of chandeliers and marble columns at the presidential palace. As they shook hands, the two were hard to tell apart, except for Lech’s black suit and his brother’s gray one.

“I wish the new prime minister designate, chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski, luck in forming his new government,” the president said.

The brothers are former activists in the Solidarity movement that helped topple communist rule in 1989-90. Both ran on a pledge to fight the cronyism that has since flourished.