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Polish president to be known in the second round

21 June 2010 07:58 (UTC +04:00)

The gap which earlier stood at 2% later narrowed to less than 1%. Some 40.13% have voted for Komorowski and 37.42% for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski. 36-year-old leader of the Democratic Left Alliance Grzegorz Napieralski is trailing behind with 13.89% of the vote.
The turnout stood at 54.02%. Exit polls released late on Sunday gave first-round the victory to Komorowski.
None of the candidates is likely to gain an overall majority in the first round, and the two are almost certain to face each other in the runoff on July 4.
Note that, Lech Kaczynski and his wife were among 96 people killed when their plane crashed while trying to land in heavy fog in Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April. The delegation included many high-ranking civilian and military leaders, and the loss provoked deep grief across the nation. Many officials have called it Poland’s worst tragedy since the second world war.