Solidarity Gets Jaruzelski View on Presidency

Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski met with Solidarity lawmakers Monday in an apparent effort to broaden support for him as a presidential candidate.

Although Gen. Jaruzelski announced June 30 that he would not be a candidate for the presidency, the Communist Party has asked him to reconsider. In recent days he has won the support of his own party and one of its Communist allies, the United Peasants’ Party.

The president is to be chosen by majority vote of the National Assembly (Sejm) and the newly created Senate in an election expected Wednesday.

Jaruzelski withdrew after the Communists’ allies in Parliament, the Peasants and the Democratic Party, hesitated to give him their support. Although the Peasants voted last week to support him, the Democrats have remained on the fence.

Solidarity, the independent trade union movement, has 259 votes (46% of the total) and could assure Jaruzelski’s election, but it is not likely to endorse him. Still, Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, noting that Poland’s internal and international situation requires a Communist president, said last week that he would cooperate with Jaruzelski if he is elected.

Solidarity’s Reluctant Support

Walesa’s quasi-endorsement suggested that Solidarity lawmakers, however reluctantly, might cast just enough votes to ensure Jaruzelski’s election if the ill-disciplined Communist coalition fails to hold together.

Jaruzelski has not officially revoked his withdrawal announcement, but he is clearly campaigning for the post.

The meeting with the Solidarity lawmakers was closed, but some of the members indicated they were not impressed.

“It’s the same thing he’s been saying for years,” said Jozef Lisz, a leader of Farmers’ Solidarity and a deputy Speaker of the Senate.

Solidarity lawmakers have said in recent weeks that a vote for Jaruzelski would be difficult for them to explain to an electorate that blames Jaruzelski for the imposition of martial law in 1981 and the suppression of Solidarity.