Polish Lawmakers OK Cabinet

WARSAW — The Polish Parliament approved a new left-wing Cabinet led by Prime Minister Jozef Oleksy on Saturday, raising hopes of faster reforms and a relaxation of political tension.

Voting 272 to 99 with 13 abstentions, deputies gave their seal of approval to the team that will succeed that of Waldemar Pawlak.

The new Cabinet still needs to be formally appointed by President Lech Walesa, who had demanded a change of government for months, accusing Pawlak of dragging his feet on reform and of trying to curb the president’s role. He threatened to dissolve Parliament unless Pawlak was replaced by a more pro-reform leader.

Oleksy, a member of the Senior Democratic Left Alliance of ex-Communists and a former senior Communist Party official, vowed Friday to be more determined than his predecessor in pursuing a market economy and integration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.