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Polish presidential race may go into run-off

WARSAW (POLAND): Poles voted for a new President on Sunday in a race led by two politicians rooted in the anti-Communist Solidarity movement, underlining the decline of the country's former Communists in a country that was part of the Soviet bloc only 16 years ago.

The two leading contenders, Donald Tusk and Lech Kaczynski, grew to political maturity as activists with Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement in the 1980s and have campaigned on promises to fight corruption and the influence of ex-Communists in institutions such as the army and intelligence services.

Economic visions

Despite shared hopes for clean governance, Mr. Tusk and Mr. Kaczynski also present different economic visions for how far this new European Union member should go in dismantling the welfare state in a pursuit of economic growth, echoing the choice German voters grappled with in their own close election last month.

Mr. Tusk is a strongly pro-business lawmaker who wants low taxes, deregulation and a limited role for the state in the economy. Mr. Kaczynski, the Mayor of Warsaw, advocates a strong role for the state in fighting the country's 18 per cent jobless rate and in preserving many welfare benefits for citizens.

With polls showing them as the only two with a shot at victory from among 12 contenders, the outcome is bound to reinforce the stinging defeat already dealt to the governing former Communists in the September 25 parliamentary elections.

Though opinion polls have given an advantage to Mr. Tusk, his lead narrowed and neither man seemed on course for a knockout victory in the first round.

If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the votes, a run-off between the two top contenders will be held in two weeks. Poles began voting at 6 a.m. [local time] in around 25,000 polling stations. Some 30 million voters are registered in this nation of 38 million.

Although Mr. Kwasniewski has been popular, the Left has self-destructed in past years with a string of corruption scandals. The parties of the front-runners — Mr. Tusk's Civic Platform and Mr. Kaczynski's Law and Justice — ran away with the parliamentary ballot and are already in talks to form a Right-leaning Government. — AP

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