Walesa Calls for Elections in May
President Lech Walesa urged parliament on Friday to hold elections at the end of May. He also said he was abandoning his idea for a “political council” that critics denounced as a puppet parliament.
Walesa’s letter to the Speaker of the Sejm, or parliament, makes May parliamentary elections a virtual certainty. They would fall just days before Pope John Paul II begins his fourth papal visit to Poland, his native land.
The letter to Speaker Mikolaj Kozakiewicz refers to early elections as “a condition for stabilizing the political situation in our country.”
Poland has been hit by a wave of strikes in protest against a wage tax and a drop in living standards caused by the radical austerity plan imposed in January, 1990.
The present Sejm is almost universally regarded as an obstacle to speedier reform because of its association with the former Communist regime. Only a third of the 460 deputies were freely elected in May, 1989.
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.
