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Polish Runoff For Presidency

With 91.5 percent of the ballots counted following presidential elections in Poland last Sunday, the national electoral commission said 36 percent of voters had backed Donald Tusk, a pro-business candidate committed to stimulating entrepreneurship with low taxes and deregulation, while 33 percent had voted for Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, a former child actor who hopes to preserve a strong social safety net.

The race in the formerly communist country centered on the Europe-wide issue of just how far to go in sacrificing old welfare-state protections for the goals of fast growth and job creation. Neither candidate appeared to have gained the majority of the votes needed for an outright win.

A state television exit poll indicated that Tusk finished with about 38 percent and Kaczynski with 32 percent. Turnout was nearly 50 percent. If the results hold, the two candidates, both former activists with the anti-communist Solidarity movement, will be forced into a runoff on October 23. Exit polls in Poland have proven in the past to be a reliable indicator of the final tally.