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Poles Vote in Runoff Presidential Election

   VOA News 04 July 2010
   Boys  cast  their mother's ballot in a voting station in Mackowa Ruda,
   northeast Poland, Sunday, July 4, 2010

Photo: AP

   Boys  cast  their mother's ballot in a voting station in Mackowa Ruda,
   northeast  Poland,  Sunday, July 4, 2010. Poles are choosing their new
   president  in  the  runoff  presidential  elections between Parliament
   Speaker  Bronislaw  Komorowski and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of
   the late President Lech Kaczynski who was killed in a plane crash.

   Polls opened in Poland Sunday in a runoff presidential election forced
   by the death of president Lech Kaczynski.
   Acting  President  Bronislaw  Komorowski  faces a tough challenge from
   Jaroslaw  Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late president Kaczynski,
   who was killed in an April plane crash in Russia.
   Mr.  Komorowski,  a centrist, won 42 percent of the June 20 vote, five
   percentage   points   more   than  his  conservative  challenger,  Mr.
   Kaczynski.  Eight other candidates finished far behind.
   Mr.  Komorowski  leads  the  pro-business  Civic Platform Party, which
   supports  the  European Union.  Mr. Kaczynski has been hostile to the
   EU and is openly suspicious of Poland's historical enemies, especially
   Germany and Russia.
   Exit  poll  results  are  expected  shortly  after  polls  close, with
   official results planned for Monday.
   President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 others were killed in
   an  April  10 plane crash near Smolensk in western Russia.  They were
   headed  to a memorial for 22,000 Polish officers killed by the Soviets
   in the early days of World War Two.
   Opinion  polls  before  the  crash placed Mr. Komorowski firmly in the
   lead.   But  Mr.  Kaczynski's  support  has grown since the accident,
   which some analysts say has mobilized conservative voters.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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