Poland's free-market enthusiast Donald Tusk won most votes in Presidential elections yesterday, putting him in the leading position for an October 23 run-off against conservative Lech Kaczynski, exit polls showed.

Two exit polls gave Mr Tusk around 38 per cent of the vote, a five- to six-point lead over runner-up Mr Kaczynski, the Warsaw mayor who campaigned hard on a promise of a "moral revolution" and a return to Christian values in the new member state of the European Union.

Mr Tusk's failure to secure the outright majority some opinion polls predicted a month ago means the race to succeed outgoing leftist President Aleksander Kwasniewski must go to the second round.

Mr Tusk and Mr Kaczynski were well ahead of the other 10 candidates, cementing a swing to the right in Poland after their parties, heirs to the pro-democracy Solidarity movement, trounced the ruling left in parliamentary polls last month.

"This victory gave hope to milions of Poles before the second round," Mr Tusk told a cheering crowd at his campaign headquarters. Mr Kaczynski showed a fighting spirit. "I am convinced that in this long race we will win," he said.

Far-left populist Andrzej Lepper, feared by the financial markets, came third with around 13 per cent of the vote. Marek Borowski, a Social Democrat, got some 10 per cent, despite an endorsement from the outgoing President, a fellow reformed communist who could not run after two terms in office.

The Presidential rivalry between former allies Mr Tusk and Mr Kaczynski has complicated efforts by their parties to form a coalition government and agree a programme Poland needs to revive growth and cut unemployment.

Mirroring a European Union-wide debate, Mr Tusk's Civic Platform and Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice party are at odds over how far to push free-market reforms and how much welfare the EU's biggest new member can afford.

Opinion surveys published before yesterday's vote indicated Mr Tusk would narrowly win the second round contest with Mr Kaczynski.

Whoever wins will have considerable powers. The President is commander in chief of armed forces, has a say over foreign policy, can propose and veto legislation and nominate Prime Ministers and, in some circumstances, dissolve Parliament.