Walesa Denies He Intends to Seek Polish Presidency

Lech Walesa denied Wednesday that he had decided to seek the presidency of Poland and said the campaign that most concerns him is winning reelection next week as leader of Solidarity.

Walesa backed away from remarks attributed to him Tuesday by the official Polish news agency PAP that indicated he would be a presidential candidate.

“Today on radio and TV, I hear that Lech Walesa agreed to be president. I didn’t say so at all,” Walesa protested. “I simply did not guard my tongue enough somewhere.”

Walesa said he had been “cajoled” into giving an answer and was misunderstood. Asked whether he would seek the presidency, Walesa was quoted Tuesday by PAP as replying: “I confirm. We have many wise and valuable people in government. . . . However, one must speed up the pace of reforms and destroy the old arrangements.”

On Wednesday, Walesa said his “metaphor” about running for president was simply his way of warning the present Solidarity-led government to work faster in transforming Poland from a Communist to a democratic system.

Walesa expressed concern that a premature presidential bid might cost him support among Solidarity activists who will be electing a leader next week.

“Now we have the union elections, and a lot of activists will say I would vote for you but if you want to jump from the union to the presidency, I will not vote,” Walesa told reporters at his Gdansk union headquarters.

“By this false start, I can lose the basic things,” he said, referring to the union leadership. Walesa faces a challenge from a Solidarity faction that feels the union has strayed too far from its founding ideals of 1980 by putting politics ahead of trade union goals defending workers’ interests.

Despite his denials, other politicians showed little doubt Wednesday that Walesa eventually intends to seek the presidency.

President Wojciech Jaruzelski’s six-year term is not due to end until 1995, but there is a strong possibility that the election will be moved up as part of a general overhaul of the Polish constitution.

Walesa’s chief of staff, Krzysztof Pusz, had said Tuesday that the plan was that Jaruzelski would either resign or be forced to resign--”one of the two.”

The retreat from an apparent declaration of candidacy was vintage Walesa, who typically is circumspect in discussing his political moves and often makes seemingly contradictory statements.