1995 Polish presidential election

1995 Polish presidential election

5 November 1995 (first round) 19 November 1995 (second round)
Turnout	64.70% (first round) 4.07pp 68.23% (second round) 14.83pp
Nominee Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lech Wałęsa Party SdRP Independent[a] Popular vote 9,704,439 9,058,176 Percentage 51.72% 48.28%
First round results by voivodeship Second round results by voivodeship
President before election Lech Wałęsa Independent Elected President Aleksander Kwaśniewski SdRP

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Presidential elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1995, with a second round on 19 November.^[1] The leader of Social Democracy, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa advanced to the second round. Kwaśniewski won the election with 52% of the vote in the run-off against 48% for Wałęsa.

Lech Wałęsa was elected and sworn in as President in December 1990, succeeding Wojciech Jaruzelski and leading to the ultimate end of communist rule in Poland. Soon after his inauguration, Wałęsa's presently primary rival Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki resigned and was followed by Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, a liberal and economist relatively loyal to Wałęsa. Regardless of the cabinet changes, Bielecki's time as Prime Minister would largely follow the course set by his predecessor.^[2]

The 1991 Polish parliamentary election saw the Democratic Union (UD) become the largest party, later supplanted by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) after Aleksander Hall's Conservatives split off from UD. After the downfall of Jan Olszewski's cabinet, and Hanna Suchocka's cabinet which succeeded it, new elections were called.

The 1993 Polish parliamentary election saw SLD become the largest party, winning a plurality of 171 (37.2%) of seats while receiving only 20.4% of votes. SLD governed in a coalition with the Polish People's Party.

Despite peaking at 70% in approval near the start of his term, by March 1995, Wałęsa's presidential approval rating reached 25%, with 64% disapproval.^[3]

Name	Born	Last position/job	Party		Endorsed by
Aleksander Kwaśniewski	15 November 1954 (40) Białogard, Koszalin Voivodeship	Member of the Sejm (1989-2005) Chairman of Social Democracy (1990-1995)		Social Democracy		Democratic Left Alliance Social Democracy All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions[4] Working People's Movement
Lech Wałęsa	29 September 1943 (52) Popowo, Włocławek Voivodeship	President of Poland (1990-1995)		Independent		Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms
						Confederation of Independent Poland
						Party of Christian Democrats
						Republicans Party
						Polish People's Party – Peasants' Agreement
						Movement for the Republic – Patriotic Camp
						Solidarity[5]
						Party of Polish Democracy
						National-Democratic Party[2]
						Christian National Union[5]
Jacek Kuroń	3 March 1934 (61) Lwów, Ukraine	Minister of Labour and Social Policy (1989-1991, 1992-1993) Member of the Sejm (1989-1993)		Freedom Union
Jan Olszewski	20 August 1930 (65) Warsaw, Warsaw Voivodeship	Prime Minister (1991-1992) Member of the Sejm (1991-1993)		Movement for the Republic		Polish Party "Patrimony"
						Centre Agreement
						Christian-National Movement Polish Action
						Third Republic Movement
Waldemar Pawlak	5 September 1959 (36) Model, Płock Voivodeship	Prime Minister (1993-1995) Member of the Sejm (1989-2015)		Polish People's Party
Tadeusz Zieliński	19 June 1926 (69) Kraków, Kraków Voivodeship	Ombudsman in Poland (1992-1996)		Independent		Labour Union
						National Party of Retirees and Pensioners
						Polish Socialist Party
						Polish Socialist Party – WRN
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz	4 November 1952 (43) Warsaw, Warsaw Voivodeship	President of the National Bank (1992-2001)		Independent		Christian-Democratic Labour Party
						Conservative Coalition
						Conservative Party
						Christian-Peasant Party
						Christian National Union[5]
						Polish Union
Janusz Korwin-Mikke	27 October 1942 (53) Warsaw, Warsaw Voivodeship	Member of the Sejm (1991-1993)		Real Politics Union
Andrzej Lepper	13 June 1954 (41) Stowięcino, Słupsk Voivodeship	Agriculturist		Self-Defence Covenant
Jan Pietrzak	26 April 1937 (58) Warsaw, Warsaw Voivodeship	Satirist		Independent
Tadeusz Koźluk	16 August 1930 (65) Konstantynów, Biała Podlaska Voivodeship	Lawyer		Independent
Kazimierz Piotrowicz	23 April 1954 (41)	Entrepreneur		Independent
Leszek Bubel	19 January 1957 (38) Węgrów, Siedlce Voivodeship	Member of the Sejm (1991-1993)		Forum for Fighting Lawlessness

Potential candidates
Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Józef Oleksy
Chairman of Social Democracy (1990-1995)	Prime Minister of Poland (1995-1996)

During SdRP's Congress on 13 May, Kwaśniewski secured his party's endorsement for President with 296 out of 300 votes. Some delegates believed Józef Oleksy should become the candidate instead.^[2][6] A poll conducted in December 1994 suggested 71% of potential SLD voters supported Kwaśniewski as the party's candidate, 7% supported Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and 16% supported Oleksy.^[7]

Lech Wałęsa was endorsed by the Bloc.^[2] A sizable part of anti-Wałęsa, reformist activists in the Bloc, like Andrzej Olechowski or Zbigniew Religa split off before the election, the latter forming the Partia Republikanie, which supported Marek Markiewicz after Religa dissented with his party's intention to run himself as its candidate. Markiewicz dropped out and endorsed Wałęsa before the first round of the election.^[2][8] Besides his own party, Wałęsa received the endorsement of other parties: a section of the ZChN endorsed him on 18 September, later joined by the rest of the party (though it didn't revoke its endorsement of their original candidate, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz) on 29 October.^[5]

Potential candidates
Jacek Kuroń	Janusz Onyszkiewicz	Hanna Suchocka
Minister of Labour and Social Policy (1992-1993)	Minister of National Defence (1992-1993)	Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993)

During the 2nd Congress of the Freedom Union, three candidates decided to enter the party's candidate selection process: Jacek Kuroń, Janusz Onyszkiewicz and Hanna Suchocka. Suchocka, despite being the highest-ranking of the former three candidates, came last in the first round. The second round of voting saw Kuroń defeat Onyszkiewicz by a slight margin of 11 votes, and the former Minister of Labour became the party's official candidate for President.^[2] A poll conducted in December 1994 suggested 53% of potential UW voters supported Kuroń as the party's candidate, 15% supported Leszek Balcerowicz and 25% supported Suchocka.^[7]

Potential candidates (Centre Agreement)
Lech Kaczyński	Jan Olszewski	Adam Strzembosz
President of the Supreme Audit Office (1992-1995)	Prime Minister of Poland (1991-1992)	Chairman of the Supreme Court of Poland (1990-1998)

With variously successful attempts of uniting the extraparliamentary right, several possible candidates were presented to lead it in the presidential election, most prominently of those affiliated with the Centre Agreement or its splinters, Lech Kaczyński, Jan Olszewski or Adam Strzembosz. On 27 March, Strzembosz declared his intentions to run for president, gaining the support of conventionally right-wing parties around him - the Centre Agreement, Christian-Peasant Party and Conservative Coalition, aswell as the more centrist Conservative Party of Aleksander Hall.^[9] Strzembosz, alongside other activists of the right including Jan Olszewski, attempted to legitimise his candidacy at the Convent of St. Catherine. After its collapse in July, Jan Olszewski started an individual presidential campaign under his party, the Movement for the Republic,^[2] who the PC considered supporting instead of Strzembosz due to dissatisfaction with him sidelining the party's staffers and platform, especially its tough on crime positions. However, on 4 September the party chose to proclaim Lech Kaczyński as their nominee instead. After failure to gain much support, Strzembosz abandoned his candidacy on 16 September, endorsing Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, one of the pretendents at the Convent of St. Catherine. Both Kaczyński and Olszewski also attempted to court the endorsement of the Solidarity trade union from Wałęsa, but failed, as the union endorsed the incumbent President on 18 October. Similarly to many other of the right's candidates, Kaczyński dropped out of the race on 30 October due to his poor performance and endorsed Olszewski.^[9][10] A poll conducted in December 1994 suggested 13% of potential voters for the extraparliamentary right supported Olszewski as the party's candidate, 11% supported Kaczyński and 6% supported Strzembosz. Another 9% supported right-libertarian Janusz Korwin-Mikke (UPR) and 8% supported Alicja Grześkowiak (PC).^[7]

Potential candidates
Waldemar Pawlak	Józef Zych
Prime Minister (1993-1995)	Marshal of the Sejm (1995-1997)

Pawlak was selected as the party's candidate. He was challenged most prominently by Józef Zych at the party's convention, however, Zych resigned from seeking the candidacy.^[11][12][2] A poll conducted in December 1994 suggested 68% of potential PSL voters supported Pawlak as the party's candidate, 1% supported Janusz Piechociński and 9% supported Zych.^[7]

Potential candidates
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz	Leszek Moczulski	Jan Olszewski	Adam Strzembosz	Henryk Bąk	Wojciech Ziembiński	Roman Ciesielski	Jan Parys
President of the National Bank of Poland (1992-2001)	Member of the Sejm (1993-1997)	Prime Minister of Poland (1991-1992)	Chairman of the Supreme Court of Poland (1990-1998)	Deputy Marshal of the Sejm (1991-1993)	Anti-communist oppositionist	Member of the Senat (1989-1991)	Minister of National Defence (1991-1992)

In November 1994, the Convent of St. Catherine was organised by Józef Maj, coordinating several extraparliamentary center to right-wing parties, like the Christian-Democratic Labour Party (ChDSP), Confederation of Independent Poland, Party of Christian Democrats (PChD), Peasants' Agreement, Polish People's Party (Mikołaczykowskie faction), Movement for the Republic, Third Republic Movement, Party of Polish Democracy, National-Democratic Party, Christian National Union, Polish Union (ZP), Solidarity or Rural Solidarity. The Convent's purpose was to serve as a discussion forum for the marginal extraparliamentary parties trying to coalesce into a political force able to cross the 5% threshold and enter the Sejm after the last election's wipeout result for the fragmented parties.^[8] In the Summer of 1995, the Convent agreed to hold meetings to select a joint presidential candidate for that year's election. Out of the many candidates that expressed interest in becoming the candidate, the quickest to withdraw was Jan Parys, soon after Roman Ciesielski, Wojciech Ziembinski, Henryk Bąk and Adam Strzembosz stopped being contenders. The remaining candidates, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Leszek Moczulski and Jan Olszewski, ultimately entered a dispute over the results a ballot held to elect the Convent's candidate, as on the 19th of July, Gronkiewicz-Waltz's, followed by Olszewski's supporters both claimed victory for their candidates. Due to the inability of the Convent to decide on a candidate, it was ultimately disbanded and all three of the remaining candidates ran their own presidential campaigns, though Moczulski ultimately withdrew and endorsed Wałęsa.^[8][2] Gronkiewicz-Waltz later tried to court the endorsements of right-wing candidates like Olszewski and Lech Kaczyński.^[10] A group of ZChN activists, including Jan Łopuszański and Henryk Goryszewski, titled "Inicjatywa 44", broke away from the Gronkiewicz-Waltz campaign to support Wałęsa instead, being accepted into his campaign staff on 18 September. On 29 October, the rest of ZChN, beyond the Inicjatywa 44 group, endorsed Lech Wałęsa without withdrawing their support for Gronkiewicz-Waltz.^[5] Ultiamtely, she remained with only the concrete endorsements of the SLCh, ZP, PK, KK and ChDSP.

Centre Agreement	Republicans Party	Confederation of Independent Poland	Independent
Lech Kaczyński	Marek Markiewicz	Leszek Moczulski	Bogdan Pawłowski
President of the Supreme Audit Office (1992-1995)	Chairman of KRRiT (1993-1994)	Member of the Sejm (1993-1997)	Entrepreneur
Endorsed Jan Olszewski	Endorsed Lech Wałęsa	Endorsed Lech Wałęsa	Endorsed Lech Wałęsa

The following candidates registered to run, but failed to cross the threshold of 100,000 signatures required to run in the election:

• Bolesław Tejkowski (Chairman of the Polish National Community)

The two favorites throughout the course of the campaign were the leader of the post-communist SLD Aleksander Kwaśniewski and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa. Kwaśniewski ran a campaign of change and blamed the economic problems in Poland on the post-Solidarity right. His campaign slogan was "Let's choose the future" (Wybierzmy przyszłość). Political opponents challenged his candidacy, and produced evidence to show that he had lied about his education in registration documents and public presentations. There was also some mystery over his graduation from university. A law court confirmed that Kwaśniewski had lied about his record, but did not penalize him for it, judging the information irrelevant to the election result. Meanwhile, Wałęsa was a very unpopular President and some opinion polls even showed that he might not make it into the second round. He was challenged by other post-Solidarity politicians of all sides of the political spectrum ranging from liberal former Minister of Labour and Social Policy Jacek Kuroń to conservative former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski. Rather than focusing on his presidency, he focused on his personal image as an everyday man turned international hero that was created for him while he was chairman of Solidarity. His campaign slogan was "There are many candidates but there is only one Lech Wałęsa" (Kandydatów jest wielu – Lech Wałęsa tylko jeden).^[2]

Kwaśniewski won with 52% of the vote in the run-off. 65% of voters voted in the first round and 68% in the second round.

Lech Wałęsa contested the election results, but they were reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.^[2]

• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 7 XI 1995 r., Dziennik Ustaw Nr 126, poz. 604;
• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 7 XI 1995 r., Dz.U. Nr 131, poz. 636