Overwhelming Vote Endorses Polish Premier

With an overwhelming vote and a standing ovation from the lower house of Parliament, Tadeusz Mazowiecki on Thursday became prime minister of Poland and the first opposition figure to head an East European government.

Mazowiecki, 62, a gaunt-faced, soft-spoken adviser to the Solidarity free trade union movement, was elected by a vote of 378 to 4, with 41 abstentions, indicating that he received strong support even from some of the 173 Communists in the Sejm, as the lower house is called.

The scene seemed genuinely moving to Mazowiecki, who sat by himself off to the side of the Speaker’s rostrum while the vote was counted.

When the vote was announced, the deputies rose to their feet, applauding.

“I am very touched at this moment,” Mazowiecki said. “I am counting on cooperation with the Sejm and the Senate. . . . This moment shall become an essential moment for us to raise up Poland together.”

A member of the former Communist government crossed the platform and led Mazowiecki over to the outgoing prime minister, Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak, the first of a dozen Communist officials to shake his hand.

After that, Mazowiecki was surrounded by his old Solidarity allies, many of them veterans, like him, of prison terms imposed by the Communists, who have now been forced to step aside. Mazowiecki, a close Solidarity adviser since the movement was formed in August, 1980, spent a year in prison during the crackdown that followed the imposition of martial law in 1981.

After his election, Mazowiecki met for 30 minutes with the official who made the martial-law declaration, President Wojciech Jaruzelski. It was Jaruzelski who accepted Solidarity leader Lech Walesa’s plan for a Solidarity-led government.

“I wish you success in your responsible mission, because Poland needs this success,” Jaruzelski told Mazowiecki as the two men shook hands for photographers.

“This success is only possible with your help,” Mazowiecki replied.

Walesa, who engineered Solidarity’s drive to form a government, was ecstatic when he met reporters in Gdansk after the vote was taken in Warsaw.

“I will do everything so that my premier--my child, our child--passes the test before society,” he said.

In a statement issued by his office, he called the election “an event without precedent” and wished Mazowiecki success in “transforming our country from a totalitarian system to democracy.”

Subdued Reaction in Moscow

In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri A. Gremitsky indicated that the Kremlin’s reaction was calm.

“The Soviet side takes the decision into account,” he said, “and we shall regard Comrade Mazowiecki as our partner in the relations that link our two countries.”

Mazowiecki has repeated Walesa’s earlier pledges, obviously aimed at placating Moscow, that a Solidarity government has no intention of pulling back from its commitment to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet-led defense alliance. Walesa agreed with Jaruzelski that Communist ministers would be left in charge of the Defense and Interior ministries, which deal with military and police affairs.

On Wednesday, Mazowiecki suggested that Communists would be appointed to other ministries as well, although he did not specify how many. “The Communist Party in isolation could be a trap for the country,” he said.

In Kennebunkport, Me., where he is spending a summer vacation, President Bush said in a written statement that the political developments in Poland “hold promise not only for a peaceful democratic transition in Poland but also for a broader process of European reconciliation, toward a Europe whole and free.”

Bush congratulated Mazowiecki, offering him assurances of “our strong support,” and saluted Jaruzelski “for his political wisdom in endorsing a government reflecting the genuine will of the Polish people.” He also saluted Solidarity “for its constructive role in helping bring about a new beginning in Poland.”

In a further signal of the rapid change in Poland, a group of 15 Communist deputies in the Sejm submitted a proposal to drop from the constitution a paragraph that designates the Communist Party as the “leading force” in Polish society.

In a brief speech before the vote was taken, Mazowiecki said he intends to form a government “capable of acting for the good of society, the nation and the state. It will be a government of a coalition for a thorough reform of the state. . . . One has to restore to Poland the mechanism of normal political life. The principle of struggle . . . must be replaced with the principle of partnership. We will not pass from a totalitarian system to a democratic one in any other way.”

He said the state “cannot take care of everything and guarantee everything.” The state’s most important role, he said, “is opening possibilities.”

He added that his government would support a market-oriented economy, declaring, “Poland cannot afford ideological experiments any longer.”

Avoids Media Issue

At a jammed news conference after his meeting with Jaruzelski, Mazowiecki avoided direct answers on some questions, such as whether he would act to remove Communists from control of Poland’s television and radio.

“My opinion is that radio and television should be open,” he said. “We will speak by facts.”

He said he hopes to have a government formed by the end of August.

He said his first messages of congratulations had come from the prime ministers of France and East Germany.

When asked if he had heard from Pope John Paul II, he deferred his answer until the end of the news conference. Then he said the next item on his agenda was to place a call to the Pope. After that, he said, he intended to call Walesa.

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang, in Kennebunkport, contributed to this story.