WARSAW, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Presidential candidate Donald Tusk from the Civic Platform Party won more votes than his closest rival with 36.33 percent of the ballot, but fell short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a second round of voting, the Election Committee said Monday.

    According to the official result released by the committee, Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, a candidate of the Law and Justice Party, got 33.10 percent of the vote.

    Earlier on Sunday, shortly after the ballot was over, reports said exit polls showed that Tusk gaining around 38.6 percent of the vote, followed by Kaczynski with 32.2 percent.

    As no one secured more than 50 percent of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes will have to duel in a run-off ballot scheduled for Oct. 23, according to Poland's election law.

    Poles went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president to succeed outgoing Aleksander Kwasniewski whose tenure expires next month. Enditem