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Solidarity claims victory in Poland
Exit polls: Conservative bloc tops ex-Communists
September 21, 1997
Web posted at: 6:39 p.m. EDT (2239 GMT)WARSAW, Poland (CNN) -- Four years after being drummed out of office, the conservative Solidarity bloc claimed a surprise victory after a strong showing in Sunday's Polish parliamentary elections.
Exit polls for Polish television showed that Solidarity would take about 33 percent of the vote, compared to about 27 percent for the Democratic Left Alliance, the party made up of ex-Communists that ousted Solidarity in 1993. Official results aren't expected until Wednesday.
Although that result would not give Solidarity an outright majority in the 460-seat Sejm, or lower house of parliament, it would likely give the party the first chance to form a coalition government to return to power.
Three smaller parties that split about 27 percent of the vote -- the Freedom Union, the Polish Peasants' Party and the Movement for Poland's Reconstruction -- were considered likely coalition partners. The centrist Freedom Union, which has roots in the Solidarity movement, is the strongest of these parties.
"If this victory is officially confirmed, we will correct all the mistakes that have been made so far," said Solidarity leader Marian Krzaklewski, addressing a jubilant crowd at party headquarters in Warsaw after the poll was broadcast.
Krzaklewski took over leadership of Solidarity from Lech Walesa, who founded the organization as a trade union in the Communist era and used it to become the country's first post-Communist president.
The exit poll results were a surprise because opinion polls prior to the elections had indicated neck-and-neck support for the two major blocs.
Solidarity, ex-Communists not far apart
Though the election was being contested along old party lines, Solidarity and the ex-Communists -- reborn as free-market social democrats -- are no longer worlds apart ideologically. Both share strategic international policy goals and key market economy ideals.
The new parliament is considered unlikely to bring major changes to the government. Instead, its most challenging job will be steering the country toward NATO and European Union membership in the coming years.
Poland's president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, whose post was not up for election Sunday, is from the Democratic Left Alliance and will decide which party gets the first chance to form a government. He declined to announce his choice Sunday, pending official results.
"But democracy means democracy, and results have to be respected," said Kwasniewski, who ousted Walensa from the presidency two years ago.
"A positive effect of this election is that the political scene is clear," the president said. "We have a strong rightist bloc, a strong leftist bloc, we have a strong party in the center."
In addition to the Sejm, Polish voters Sunday also cast ballots for 100 seats in the upper house of parliament, or Senate.
The vote marks the third free parliamentary election since the fall of Communism in 1989, and the first following a full four-year parliamentary term.
Roughly 28.5 million Poles were registered to vote. Turnout was estimated to be about 50 to 55 percent.
- Newsmaker Profile: Aleksander Kwasniewski - Polish President
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Related sites:
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- Republic of Poland (URM) - official Polish government WWW server
- Gazeta Polska- Polish weekly newspaper with discussions of current Polish politics
- Gazeta Wyborcza - online Polish daily newspaper
- Central Europe Online: Poland - provides a wide range of information about the government and constitution, politics, transportation, the environment and the people
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