Komorowski wins Polish election

Warsaw: Bronislaw Komorowski won Poland's runoff presidential elections, the state election commission said on Monday, based on results with all the polling stations reporting.

Mr. Komorowski, of the centre-right Civic Platform party, gained 53.01 per cent of the vote, said the commission.

Opponent Jaroslaw Kaczynski, of the right-wing Law and Justice party, received 46.99 per cent of the vote.

Turnout reached 55.31 per cent during the voting on Sunday to find a successor to Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia in early April.

Analysts said Mr. Komorowski's win puts pressure on his Civic Platform party to prove itself in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

“Our Polish democracy has won,” Mr. Komorowski said Sunday after exit poll results showed his victory. The campaign had been “especially difficult because it took place in the shadow of the tragedy,” he said.

Mr. Kaczynski, the twin brother of Lech Kaczynski, spoke on Sunday night to his supporters in Warsaw, saying his party now had a chance to win in the parliamentary elections because they had proven their popularity.

“I congratulate the winner, I congratulate Bronislaw Komorowski,” Mr. Kaczynski said. “But most of all I want to sincerely thank all those who participated in these elections, and those who supported us.

There are many of them. So many that we can surely say that Poland has changed.” Sunday's election follows a first round of voting on June 20, in which no candidate secured a majority.

The President will be inaugurated in swearing-in ceremonies on Tuesday. — DPA