A cyclist passes posters of Civic Platform (PO) presidential candidate Bronislaw Komorowski in centre of Warsaw June 19, 2010.KACPER PEMPEL
Poles choose a new president on Sunday in an election that will help shape the pace of economic reforms and set the tone for Warsaw's relations with its partners in the European Union and with historic foe Russia.
Billed as the strangest election in Poland's 21-year post-communist history, it was called after the death of President Lech Kaczynski and much of the country's political and military elite in a plane crash in Russia on April 10.
The two frontrunners, both Catholic conservatives espousing family values but divided on many other issues, are far ahead of the other eight candidates in opinion polls. The winner will serve a five-year term as head of state.
Mr. Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, a combative eurosceptic, has fought an effective campaign based on calls for solidarity in a time of national disaster, but Bronislaw Komorowski of the centrist ruling party, Civic Platform (PO), looks set to win.
Grzegorz Napieralski of the leftist opposition SLD, heir to the once mighty Communist Party, will come a distant third, according to the opinion polls.
Mr. Komorowski is unlikely to secure the 50 percent of votes he needs to win on Sunday, however, forcing a runoff on July 4 between the top two candidates.
Polling stations are open from 6 a.m. till 8 p.m. local time. Exit polls showing the final estimated results will be published after the voting ends.
Around 30 million Poles in a total population of 38 million are eligible to vote. Turnout in the 2005 presidential election was only about 50 percent, and only slightly better, at 54 percent, in the last parliamentary election in 2007.
In Poland, the government sets policy but the president can veto laws, appoints many key officials and has a say in foreign and security policy. Lech Kaczynski irked Prime Minister Donald Tusk's economically liberal government by blocking some reforms.
Mr. Tusk believes Jaroslaw Kaczynski as president would continue his brother's habit of vetoing government bills and also of thwarting efforts to prepare Poland for euro entry.
The presidential palace would also become a campaign headquarters for Mr. Kaczynski's right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) ahead of next year's crucial parliamentary election.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski served as prime minister briefly from 2006-07, when his nationalist views, in particular his deep suspicion of Germany and Russia, put heavy strain on Poland's relations with its neighbours and also with the EU.
By contrast, Mr. Komorowski, a father of five and scion of the old Polish aristocracy, shares Mr. Tusk's ambition to bring Poland into the European political mainstream, a goal that includes adopting the euro as soon as is economically feasible.
Mr. Komorowski became Poland's acting president on Lech Kaczynski's death in his capacity as speaker of parliament.
The crash triggered an upsurge of sympathy for Jaroslaw, a bachelor who was very close to his brother. This factor, along with an image makeover that has seen him tone down his often harsh rhetoric, has helped him narrow the gap with Mr. Komorowski.
"I feel sorry for Kaczynski because he has gone through such an enormous tragedy. Maybe this will make the whole Polish nation reunite and work together," Zenobia Sleszynska, 69, a Warsaw pensioner, told Reuters.
Others feared political deadlock if Mr. Kaczynski were elected.
"I hope that if Komorowski wins, and with PO already having a majority in parliament, they will manage to introduce reforms," said Szymon Bekier, working in a local market.