WARSAW, Poland (AP) – The Poles cast their ballots Sunday in a nationwide presidential election that was expected to see the incumbent, Bronislaw Komorowski, re-elected but not in the first round of voting.
Ten other candidates were also running, but none were likely to receive more than 50 percent of the vote, which is needed to avoid a May 24 runoff. The incumbent comes from an aristocratic family and embodies Polish tradition. His challengers include a punk rock star, a former actress and TV presenter and a vodka producer who once wielded a gun at a press conference.
Some 40 percent of Poles support Komorowski, a center-right candidate aligned with the ruling Civic Platform, according to recent surveys that indicate he will most probably face Andrzej Duda of the nationalist opposition Law and Justice party in the second round.
Komorowski and the leader of the Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, cast their ballots Sunday in Warsaw, among the country’s more than 30.2 million eligible voters. As of 5 p.m. local time, turnout was at 34.4 percent of eligible voters, according to the State Electoral Commission.
With most power in the hands of Poland’s prime minister and the government, the presidency has many ceremonial duties. However, the president is the commander of the armed forces and has the power to propose and veto legislation.