Walesa Announces He Will Run for Polish Presidency
Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said Monday that he will run for president of Poland, a job now held by the general who once imprisoned him and sought to crush his labor union.
Walesa said he hoped to speed the nation’s transition from communism to democracy.
Post-Communist Poland’s first fully democratic presidential and parliament elections are expected as early as this fall and no later than spring.
“Today I made up my mind. I am putting forward for society’s approval my readiness to be a candidate for the post of president of the Polish Republic in popular elections,” Walesa said.
“For me, it is a fulfillment of the pledge I made in August, 1980,” he said, when he catapulted to worldwide fame by leading strikes that helped create the East Bloc’s first independent trade union.
When Solidarity was created 10 years ago, Walesa pledged that he would fight for the overthrow of communism and the establishment of full democracy in Poland.
Walesa has hinted at his presidential intentions for nearly a year, saying he needs to take the post to spur political and economic reforms. In June, he said: “I do not want to be president. I will have to be president.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
