One more round

After the first round of voting held on October 9, pro-business moderate Donald Tusk obtained 36.3 percent of votes and narrowly defeated conservative Lech Kaczyński who secured 33.1 percent. The name of the new president of Poland will thus only be known in two weeks time, after the second round of voting.

The electorate of the populist Andrzej Lepper accounted for 15.1 percent of votes cast and social democrat Marek Borowski managed to convince 10.3 percent.

Reaching out to those frustrated by the hardships of Poland's long trek into the EU might be easier for Kaczyński, who promises to protect the welfare state, struggling heavy industry and small-plot farmers. However, voters are more and more put off by the aggressive campaign of Law and Justice.

The number of votes cast for the two leaders in the race differed by a mere 500,000.