Kwasniewski re-elected Polish president-exit poll

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an ex-communist turned social democrat, easily won re-election on Sunday, an exit poll showed. The poll by the private PBS agency, released by public television, gave the telegenic former leader of the ex-communist party 56.1 percent of the vote, above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off in two weeks' time. More than 1,000 supporters, gathered at Kwasniewski's electoral headquarters, gave an euphoric cheer as the exit poll was announced 30 minutes after polls closed. "This is a knockout for all of Kwasniewski's rivals. It is evidence that Poles back his political style which emphasises what we have in common, not what divides us," said Leszek Miller, leader of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the ex-communist party Kwasniewski led until 1995. "If at the end of my next term Poland is in the European Union then I can die happy," Kwasniewski said recently. Reuters reports.