Komorowski win strengthens Polish government

The commission said Monday that Mr. Komorowski of the ruling Civic Platform partywon 53.01 percent of the vote, beating out his rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who won 46.99 percent, after all ballots were counted. Mr.Kaczynski conceded defeat Sunday night.

The early voting was forced by a plane crash in April that killed President Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw’s identical twin brother.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for late 2011, the Civic Platform party of Mr. Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk has a year to show the country whether it can tackle major economic problems including high debt and unemployment.

“Civic Platform! You now have total power,” the tabloid Fakt declared in big letters on its front page Monday. “Show what you can do — you have a year!”

Mr. Komorowski has pledged to work with the government closely to support its program of modernizing Poland and trimming back the welfare state. Any painful changes could hurt Mr. Tusk in next year’s elections. Among reforms the government wants is a raise in the retirement age. Currently women can retire at 60 and men at 65.

Memories of a chaotic government Jaroslaw Kaczynski led from 2006-2007 probably helped keep him from victory, but his strong showing has boosted his followers’ hopes that he might strengthen his power in future elections.

Mr. Komorowski’s victory will be welcome news for leaders in Berlin and Brussels. Jaroslaw Kaczynski is a noted nationalist and euroskeptic reluctant to adopt the euro or to cede much sovereignty to the EU. When he was prime minister, his government was often at loggerheads with officials in Brussels.

Both Kaczynski twins were also suspicious of Germany, and frequently made a political issue of the suffering that Germany inflicted on Poland during World War II.

Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, welcomed Komorowski’s election as “a strong pro-European signal.” He said that, in Komorowski, Berlin would have “a strong partner for (its) course of trust and cooperation.”