Tight run-off in Polish vote

POLAND’S centrist presidential candidate Bronislaw Komorowski faces a tight run-off vote against his right-wing rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski on July 4 after beating him by only a few percentage points in a Sunday vote.

Financial markets would prefer a Komorowski victory because he would be expected to work smoothly with Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s economically liberal government in tackling a big budget deficit and preparing the country for eventual euro adoption.

But first-round results gave the mild-mannered candidate of Poland’s ruling pro-business Civic Platform (PO) a narrower margin of victory than many pre-election polls had suggested and he faces a stiff challenge to beat opposition leader Kaczynski, a combative nationalist vying to replace his twin brother Lech Kaczynski, whose death in a plane crash in Russia in April triggered the election.