Reports: Slim win in Polish vote could pressure Komorowski's party

Jul 5, 2010, 9:38 GMT

Warsaw - Bronislaw Komorowski's lead by a small margin in Poland's presidential election was an indication of the growing power of his opponent, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, according to initial Polish media analysis Monday.

Komorowski won despite a lackluster campaign played out in the shadow of the plane crash tragedy, while Kaczynski's showing was better than expected, the daily Wyborcza reported.

'Kaczynski had remarkable success. He managed to receive almost 8 million votes,' the daily said. '(This was) the same Kaczynski who Poles did not want to trust not so long ago.'

Kaczynski is known for his ambivalence regarding Russia and the European Union, but in the campaign he adopted a friendlier tone towards Moscow and Brussels.

The support Kaczynski received gave his party 'enormous capital' in the lead-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2011. They put pressure on Komorowski to show he can unite Poles and work beyond political divisions, Wyborcza said.

But Komorowski's ruling Civic Platform party may not live up to the country's hopes, the daily Dziennik commented, and may not keep Poland in the black as the sole EU country to avoid recession in 2009.

'The Civic Platform is no longer the same party of reforms that won the parliamentary elections in 2007,' the daily wrote. 'And the situation across the world won't allow us to maintain stable economic growth without unpopular reforms.'

Kaczynski's relatively strong showing means a 'political breakthrough' in Poland, the daily Rzeczpospolita commented.

'Just a few months ago it seemed ... that whoever became the presidential candidate of the Civic Platform party had victory in his pocket,' the daily said.

Rzeczpospolita commented that Kaczynski was able to sway centrist voters by toning down his rhetoric and talking about 'positive values' during his campaign.