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Nearly Complete Results: Komorowski Wins Polish Presidential Election


A rebel fighter carries a cannon shell during a battle near Ras Lanuf, Libya, March 04, 2011. (Reuters Image)
A rebel fighter carries a cannon shell during a battle near Ras Lanuf, Libya, March 04, 2011. (Reuters Image)

Official results from Poland's run-off presidential election gives moderate acting President Bronislaw Komorowski a small lead over conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has already conceded defeat.

With almost all the ballots counted, election officials give Mr. Komorowski 52.6 percent of the votes and Mr. Kaczynski 47.4.

Mr. Kaczynski had already congratulated Mr. Komorowski as the winner when two separate exit polls showed him ahead.

The acting president said he was ready to open the champagne. But he told supporters the campaign was difficult, coming in the shadow of tragedy.

Mr. Komorowski became acting president in April when President Lech Kaczynski -- Jaroslaw Kaczynski's twin brother -- was killed in a plane crash in Russia.

Mr. Komorowski leads the pro-business Civic Platform Party, which backs the European Union.

Mr. Kaczynski has been generally hostile to the European Union and openly suspicious of countries that were Poland's enemies in the past, especially Germany and Russia.

Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 others were killed in an April 10 plane crash near Smolensk in western Russia. They were headed to a memorial for 22,000 Polish officers killed by the Soviets during World War II.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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