Komorowski wins Polish election

Moderate conservative Bronislaw Komorowski has narrowly won Poland's presidency, setting the stage for a political alliance with Prime Minister Donald Tusk that will be expected to deliver promised economic reforms.

Komorowski, a member of Tusk's Civic Platform party, won 52.6 per cent of votes in Sunday's poll, according to results based on 95 per cent of the ballots, after a cliff-hanger vote that saw his right-wing rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski perform much better than expected.

But political analysts said the unexpected tightness of the presidential race, the prospect of looming local elections and a parliamentary vote due in 2011 could lead Tusk to take a cautious approach in introducing potentially unpopular reforms.

"(Komorowski's win is) market positive," Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients. "However, these reforms look increasingly unlikely to happen quickly as local and parliamentary elections are approaching."

In Poland, the government sets policies and the ruling Civic Platform faces an elevated budget deficit, high public debt, a public health system in disarray and an inefficient pension system. Changes in the pension system could hit farmers, miners and teachers, among others.

Kaczynski, who heads the main right-wing opposition party and was vying to succeed his twin brother Lech whose death in a plane crash in April precipitated the vote, scored 47.4 per cent. Lech Kaczynski vetoed some of Tusk's reforms in the past.

Conceding defeat on Sunday, Kaczynski told supporters his good result in the election also boded well for local elections in the autumn and next year's parliamentary poll, which Poland will hold during its rotating European Union presidency.

"We have to win them and we will," he said.