First Round of Elections Wraps Up

Poland headed to the polls last weekend with the intention of choosing the replacement for Lech Kaczynski, the former Polish president who died on 10 April 2010 in a plane crash which killed all 96 on board.

While no clear victor emerged, the top two candidates were Bronislaw Komorowski of the Civic Platform party and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the former president, of the Law and Justice party. In third place with approximately 13% of the vote was Grzegorz Napieralski of the Democratic Left Alliance.

The candidate with the most votes, Bronislaw Komorowski, failed to gain the required majority of over 50% of votes, instead finishing with just over 41% of the vote. In second place was Kaczynski with just over 36% of the vote.

A run-off election has been scheduled for 4 July between the top two candidates, both of whom are hoping for the support of Napieralski - his supporters could guarantee victory for the future president of Poland.