Voters in Poland began to cast their ballots in the polling stations across the country to elect a new president to succeed outgoing President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Some 30 million voters are eligible to vote. Voting started at 6:00 AM (04:00 GMT) yesterday and the first exit polls will be issued at around 8:00 PM (18:00 GMT) when polling stations close.

Latest opinions showed, for the time being, candidate Donald Tusk, from Civic Platform party, and Lech Kaczynski, from Law and Justice party, are taking the lead over the remaining 10 candidates in the run for presidency.

The decisive victory over the current ruling party in the September 25 parliamentary elections has led to talks between Tusk's and Kaczynski's parties on the possibility of forming a coalition government, but the presidential duel of the two leaders has rendered the negotiation erratic.

Both Tusk and Kaczynski endorse EU membership, but they diverge on the country's welfare system and the process of free-market reform.

The 48-year-old Tusk, leader of the pro-market Civic Platform party, has been promoting his plan to boost the economy by cutting red tape and taxes, in a bid to narrow the gap between Poland and West European nations in economic development.

He also vowed to fight corruption and unemployment, and improve the country's relations with big neighbours Germany and Russia.

Another major contender, Warsaw Mayor Kaczynski, at the age of 56 and a leading member of the socially conservative Law and Justice party, promises a new Poland under the banner of the "Fourth Republic," "moral renewal," protecting the rights of workers and building a welfare state.

Other presidential candidates include Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Self-Defence party, Marek Borowski, leader of the left-wing Social Democracy of Poland, and Jaroslaw Kalinowski, leader of the Polish Peasant Party.

While the prime minister and his government wield most executive power in Poland, the president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, can veto and suggest legislation and represents Poland abroad.

The winner of the presidential race will replace current President Kwasniewski whose second and final five-year term is coming to a close. Although Kwasniewski has been popular, the left has self-destructed in past years with a string of corruption scandals.

Observers say a Tusk victory would strengthen the hand of his party, which came second in parliamentary elections, as the two victors struggle to agree on a joint programme and the division of cabinet posts.

A Tusk win would also calm foreign investors, who fear that Law and Justice's welfare policies will slow reforms in the European Union's largest new member.

A runoff between the two top contenders will be held two weeks later, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, according to Polish law.

(China Daily October 10, 2005)