Donald Tusk of Poland's Civic Platform party led over Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski in the presidential election on Sunday but neither of them scored enough votes to avoid a runoff, exit polls showed.

Tusk, who got around 38.6 percent of the votes, was followed by Kaczynski of the Law and Justice party with 32.2 percent, according to the exit polls issued after the closure of polling stations at around 8:00 PM (18:00 GMT).

As no one secured more than 50 percent of the votes, the two candidates with the most votes will have to duel in the second round scheduled for Oct. 23, according to Polish election law.

According to the poll, only 49.82 percent of some 30 million eligible voters cast their votes, and incumbent President Aleksander Kwasniewski has expressed discontent about the low turnout after the election.

After the exit poll was released, both Tusk and Kaczynski expressed hope they would emerge as the final winner.

"I am proud of this result ... This is a victory," Tusk told his supporters, saying the result is a good sign, as in the past candidates led in the first round also emerged as the winner in the runoff vote.

Kaczynski said he was not giving up yet, and that he too would use the next two weeks before the runoff to win over voters.

According to the election committee, the official result of the election will come out on Monday morning.

The eligible voters in Poland started at 6:00 AM (04:00 GMT) Sunday to cast their ballots in the polling stations across the country to elect a new president to succeed outgoing Kwasniewski, who is in his second five -year term in office and whose tenure expires next month.

(Xinhua News Agencies October 10, 2005)