Who fears the verdict of angry youth?

After weeks of campaigning that have seen the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice party (PiS) in the lead, the latest polls suggest that the their rivals in the Civic Platform will win the elections today. The Kaczynski brothers and their Law and Justice Party have poor prospects at the polls in most of Poland's major cities. The twins derive much of their support from voters in rural districtsThe party of Donald Tusk, enjoying an impressive resurgence in recent days, will oust Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leaving Lech, his identical twin, to continue as President in cohabitation with a hostile government, says The Guardian.

The Kaczynskis - or their allies - have denounced gay teachers, advocated the death penalty, compared a Russia-Germany pipeline deal to the pact that divided eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin and demanded more voting rights from the European Union to reflect the fact that Poland's population would have been bigger than its 38 million if the Nazis had not killed five million Poles during the Second World War.

Despite the political turmoil, the country is booming, with Gdansk only one of many examples of progress. The Polish economy will grow by more than 6 percent this year, and the unemployment rate in Poland has dropped from 19 to 12 percent since the country joined the EU.

Turnout, at over 55 percent, was the highest since Poland voted to end communism in 1989. The high level of participation was expected to benefit the Civic Platform, a centre-right opposition party that had an opinion poll lead, acording to Reuters.

The Kaczynskis have fought repeatedly with EU partners and strained relations with Germany and Russia. The opposition also accused the brothers of focusing on fighting corruption instead of reforming central Europe's biggest economy.

"The Civic Platform's economic program makes more sense to me. The market, not the government, should regulate the economy," said Krzysztof Zawadzki, 36, a tax advisor.

Sixty-year-old Maria Choszczyk, a teacher, said: "I voted for Law and Justice. It's the only party that is serious about combating crime and corruption."

Lech Kaczynski, however, will remain in office whatever Sunday's result, because his presidential term runs until the end of 2010.