The twin brother of Poland’s late President sought to succeed him in office on Sunday in a tight runoff election that will determine how far this former Communist country goes in embracing free-market reforms.
Both presidential candidates, Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Bronislaw Komorowski, are former anti-Communist activists with conservative, Roman Catholic upbringings.
Yet they differ sharply on key issues, primarily the role of the state in the economy.
Mr Komorowski would be expected to smooth the way for the government to continue privatising state-run companies and trim welfare benefits, while Mr Kaczynski, the late President’s identical twin, would likely block such moves.
An election was originally set for the fall but had to be called early to replace President Lech Kaczynski, who died April 10 in a plane crash in western Russia.
The crash also killed his wife Maria and 94 others, including many high-ranking military and government officials. A first round of voting on June 20 ended with no candidate winning an absolute majority, leading to Sunday’s runoff between Mr Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Mr Komorowski, Poland’s acting President and Parliament Speaker.
More than 30 million of Poland’s 38 million citizens are registered to vote. The first exit polls will be released immediately after polls close at 8 pm, but official results are not expected until Monday.
Five hours after the polls opened, the state electoral commission said nearly 27 per cent of registered voters had cast ballots, higher than expected. For most of the campaign, Mr Komorowski has been favoured.