Word: walesa
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...Poland's still imperfectly formed democracy, the result was more upsetting than usual. Though he was virtually unknown when he launched his campaign three months ago, Tyminski took second place in a six-man presidential race that was supposed to be a contest between Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and his onetime colleague, Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Walesa needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. He won just under 40%, with 23% going to Tyminski and 18% to Mazowiecki. Now the still mysterious Tyminski will face Walesa alone...
...voting in December and a deepening of the rifts within Solidarity, the loose alliance of workers and intellectuals that last year brought four decades of Communist rule to an end. Parliamentary elections slated for early next year may formalize the movement's breakup, which began earlier this year when Walesa made clear his intention to oust General Wojciech Jaruzelski from the presidency...
That declaration pitted Walesa, 47, against Mazowiecki, 63, a former colleague, who urged gradual political and economic change and wanted to postpone the presidential campaign until 1991. Walesa accused the Mazowiecki government of dragging its feet on reform and of being too soft on former Communists, many of whom still occupy important positions. What will Walesa do if elected? "There will be a lot of improvisation," he says vaguely. "I'll travel around and check things...
Mazowiecki is cautioning his countrymen that economic experiments could bring disaster and warns that an anti-Communist witch-hunt could lead to civil war. His supporters portray Walesa as a potential dictator; Solidarity ideologue Adam Michnik, for instance, recently described him as "malicious, antagonistic and dangerous" and likely to create the first "Peronist-style" government in Eastern Europe. The Prime Minister's standing received a boost last week when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl unexpectedly agreed to a treaty confirming Poland's western border with Germany...
...Walesa is trying to win the support of intellectuals, who bristle at his populist style, by meeting with them and urging them to give "a newcomer" a chance. He has even suggested that if elected he will ask Leszek Balcerowicz, the Finance Minister and architect of the austerity measures that are at the center of Poland's economic-reform plan, to be the next Prime Minister. Some Poles view that as a welcome promise of continuity in economic policy; others see it as proof that Walesa's campaign is inspired more by personal ambition than the desire to make significant...