Poles vote in landmark election

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poles began voting Sunday in elections pitting the prime minister's nationalists against a pro-business party that wants to bring the country's 900 troops home from Iraq and get more in return for hosting a U.S. missile defense base.

Polling stations opened on a chilly morning at 6 a.m. for parliamentary elections sought by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski two years ahead of schedule after his ruling Law and Justice party could not overcome bickering with the two smaller parties it needed to form a majority.

Kaczynski, a nationalist who favors purging former communists from public life and aggressively asserting Poland's interests in the European Union, faces a strong challenge from Donald Tusk, leader of the pro-business Civic Platform party.

The country's deployment training Iraqi security forces has been extended through the end of the year by the current government, but Kaczynski has suggested it could be extended again, saying "Poles have never been quitters."

Tusk's party, on the other hand, wants the troops to come home, although some party officials have said that could take as long as until the end of 2008.

Tusk, who also wants strong ties with Washington, nonetheless questions whether Kaczynski's two-year-old government is driving a strong enough bargain in negotiations to host 10 U.S. interceptor missiles aimed at stopping potential attacks from Iran.

Tusk's party calls for additional security guarantees for Poland such as the U.S. Patriot short-range anti-missile and anti-aircraft system, and suggests Kaczynski has failed to win rewards such as visa-free travel for Poles to the United States.

"You say we've gained a lot from our ties with the U.S.," Tusk told Kaczynski during a televised debate on October 12 that gave him a strong boost in the polls. "But you don't name a thing. Where are the visas, where are the business deals?"

Civic Platform supports measures to improve Poles' economic prospects at home and lure back some of the hundreds of thousands who have moved to Britain and Ireland since the country joined the European Union in 2004.

Law and Justice is socially conservative, stressing patriotism and a purge of former communists from public life while supporting more social welfare for families.

Recent polls showed Civic Platform increasing a small lead over Law and Justice and gaining enough seats to form a majority with the help of the Polish Peasants' Party, a small, pro-European Union farm-based party.

Should Tusk win, his ability to pass legislation could be hampered by vetos from President Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw Kaczynski's twin brother. The president's term expires in 2010. E-mail to a friend

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