Polish liberal ahead Presidential poll

POLAND: Polish interim President Bronislaw Komorowski was slightly ahead in the first round of a Presidential election with 41.22 percent of the vote, early results showed. Sunday's poll was the vote to replace head of state Lech Kaczynski, who died in an air crash.

The liberal Komorowski, who is Parliamentary speaker, faces a run-off on July 4 against the late leader's twin, conservative ex-premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who was on 36.74 percent with 94.3 percent of votes counted. Centre-left Social Democrat Grzegorz Napieralski scored a surprise 13.7 percent, setting him up as a possible kingmaker. Polls showed two-thirds of his supporters would back Komorowski.

"In life, as in football and all sports, it's extra time that's the most difficult," Komorowski, 58, told cheering supporters in Warsaw after exit polls put him ahead late Sunday.

Warsaw, Monday, AFP