2nd Polish Candidate for Prime Minister Bows Out : Politics: Jan Olszewski blames a lack of support from Walesa. But the coalition that backed him had collapsed.

Eight weeks after this nation’s parliamentary elections, the second proposed candidate for prime minister gave up Tuesday on efforts to form a new Polish government and submitted his resignation to Parliament.

Jan Olszewski--a 61-year-old lawyer who had been the candidate of a five-party center-right coalition advocating a slower approach to economic reform--blamed his failure on President Lech Walesa’s lack of support for his proposed government.

But an equally compelling reason for his failure, unmentioned in his letter of resignation to the Parliament, was the collapse of the coalition that originally backed him. Two parties pulled out in disagreement over ministerial assignments and disputes over an economic program.

Olszewski’s withdrawal--to be voted on today by the Parliament--could clear the way for the candidate who was Walesa’s original favorite: outgoing Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, who has headed the government for the last year until his formal resignation last week.

This is Olszewski’s second failure as a prime ministerial candidate, the first attempt also running afoul of Walesa over economic policy. When the Olszewski candidacy foundered then, it was Bielecki, an advocate of swift privatization and rapid reforms, who won the job.

Walesa’s first nomination after the Oct. 27 parliamentary elections went to longtime Solidarity adviser Bronislaw Geremek, whose left-center alliance could not garner enough support in the badly fractured Parliament to form a government.

The process of picking a prime minister has been tortuous because of the makeup of the Parliament, which includes representatives of 29 parties, none commanding more than 13% of the total of 460 seats. These post-election complications are due in large part to an election law written by the previous Parliament (dominated by a 60% former Communist majority) that favors small parties.

Perhaps ironically, Poland’s temporary government is being headed by former Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, the architect of the “shock therapy” reform plan who had been the lightning rod for government critics throughout the election campaign and the one figure who seemed destined to be shunted aside after the vote.

Bielecki’s party, the reformist Liberal-Democrats, bolted the center-right alliance in disagreement over economic policy.

In addition, the right-wing Confederation for an Independent Poland walked away from the alliance when its erstwhile partners balked at appointing its firebrand chief as minister of defense in charge of the nation’s armed forces.

Walesa’s chief objection to Olszewski’s government list was its economic orientation. The proposed finance minister was Adam Tanski, who had come under fire as Bielecki’s agriculture minister.

Jerzy Eysymontt, nominated as deputy premier for economic affairs and head of planning, has advocated a policy of “selective government credits” as a means of shoring up collapsing state-run industries, a course that has been antithetical to government policies over the last two years.