Poland holds first polls since deadly plane crash

PanARMENIAN.Net - Poland is holding a presidential election to replace President Lech Kaczynski, who died two months ago in a plane crash.

The late president's identical twin, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and acting president Bronislaw Komorowski are among the 10 candidates.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, as seems likely, a run-off will be held on July 4.

The disaster has also boosted the ratings of the late president's twin, Jaroslaw, a combative conservative former prime minister who was voted out of office three years ago.

But the front-runner is the government's candidate, Bronislaw Komorowski, who is a member of the ruling Civic Platform party.

The centre-right parliamentary speaker, who is now the acting president, says his whole career proves that he is a man who can unite the nation.

Both candidates have appealed to national unity in an election overshadowed by April's plane crash and recent floods that killed 24 people and forced thousands from their homes.

Voting started at 06:00 (0400 GMT) and is set to close at 20:00. The first exit polls will be released when the polls close, and official results will come in later in the evening.

More than 30 million of Poland's 38 million citizens are registered to vote, BBC reported.