WORLD : Poles Delay Vote Pending Bush Visit

WARSAW —  The election of Poland’s new president will be postponed until after the visit next week by President Bush, a Communist official announced today.

Politburo member Marian Orzechowski, leader of the Communist Deputies Caucus in the Sejm, said the election by the National Assembly could not be held earlier because state officials will be out of the country Friday and Saturday and will be busy after that with the Bush visit.

Communist Party and Solidarity officials earlier had insisted the new president would be chosen before Bush’s visit. The postponement appeared related to ongoing indecision over who will be nominated by the party for the new six-year office that will oversee the army and foreign relations.

Polish leader Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski had been the party’s prime candidate, but he surprised the nation Friday by announcing he would not run and nominating Interior Minister Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak.