Lawyer Becomes 1st Woman to Head Polish Government

Parliament on Friday approved centrist lawmaker Hanna Suchocka as the first woman to head a Polish government, ending the nation’s five-week political crisis.

In a vote of 233 to 61 with 113 abstentions, the Sejm, or lower chamber, approved Suchocka as the fifth prime minister since the Communists lost power in 1989.

Hours earlier, the chamber had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak.

Suchocka, 46, is a constitutional lawyer and a member of the Democratic Union Party, the largest caucus in the highly fragmented Parliament. She leads a coalition of seven parties descending from the Solidarity movement.

In a letter to the Sejm, President Lech Walesa said he hoped that Suchocka would be able to form “an effective and stable government, enjoying a firm support of a parliamentary majority.”

Pawlak had been elected to office June 5 on Walesa’s motion.

But the 32-year-old Peasant Party leader was unable to form a government after most lawmakers refused to work with him on grounds that his party was aligned for many years with the Communists.

“It was not my goal to hold the post of prime minister at any price,” Pawlak said in a brief resignation speech. “I could not accept all kinds of compromises.”