Liberal candidate defeats bereaved twin in Polish vote
Opposition leader Kaczynski congratulates rival
Polish conservative opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski yesterday congratulated the governing liberals' candidate Bronislaw Komorowski after exit polls showed he had won presidential elections.
Liberal Bronislaw Komorowski beat conservative opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Poland's snap presidential election yesterday, exit polls indicated, in a vote forced by the air-crash death of Mr Kaczynski's twin.
An exit poll by the TNS OBOP institute for public broadcaster TVP gave Mr Komorowski 53.1 per cent of the vote to Mr Kaczynski's 46.9 per cent.
A rival poll by MillwardBrown SMG/KRC for private station TVN showed Mr Komorowski with 51.09 per cent to Kaczynski's Mr 48.91 per cent.
"This is a victory for Polish democracy," Mr Komorowski told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters. "The ballots are being counted. We're opening a small bottle of champagne today, and we'll open a big one tomorrow," he said yesterday, with official results due today.
President Lech Kaczynski perished on April 10 when his jet crashed in Smolensk, western Russia as it landed for a World War II commemoration. A total of 96 people died, among them his wife, senior politicians and military top brass.
The law made parliamentary speaker Komorowski acting president of the nation of 38 million.
Reeling from the crash, Poland was battered in May and June by the worst floods in decades which killed 24 and forced thousands from their homes.
The run-off battle between hardball conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski, 61, and soft-spoken Mr Komorowski, 58, marked the latest chapter in a bitter power struggle between their parties.
Lech Kaczynski came from behind to beat liberal Donald Tusk - now Prime Minister - in the 2005 presidential race.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative, eurosceptic Law and Justice party, was premier in 2006-2007 but lost a general election to Mr Tusk and Mr Komorowski's Civic Platform.
Thereafter, Law and Justice counted on Lech Kaczynski, who used presidential veto powers 18 times to block the liberals' laws.