WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski, vying to succeed his twin brother as president after his death in a plane crash, has seen his support rise sharply and now trails his main rival by just two percentage points, a poll showed on Saturday.
Kaczynski, who heads a right-wing opposition party, has trailed Bronislaw Komorowski, an ally of centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in all polls since the April 10 crash in Russia that killed his brother Lech and 95 others.
But a week before the June 20 election, a survey from TNS OBOP commissioned by the public television news channel showed Kaczynski had nearly erased the gap with Komorowski.
The poll put Kaczynski's support at 36 percent, up eight points from the last TNS OBOP survey on May 20, and had Komorowski on 38 percent, down 15 points.
Two other polls, by Homo Homini and GfK Polonia, that were published on Saturday gave Komorowski bigger leads of 8.6 and 13 points, respectively.
The outcome of the election matters because Poland's president can veto legislation and has a say in foreign and security policy. Like his brother, Kaczynski could be expected to block government laws if elected head of state.
Some political observers have criticized Komorowski for conducting a lackluster campaign and for a series of minor gaffes that have been pounced on by his opponents.
Polls also suggest a low turnout, which analysts say could favor Kaczynski because his core electorate is likely to be more energized following the death of his brother.
