History of Poland

Poland in the 1990s

Poland in the early 1990s made great progress toward achieving a fully democratic government and a market economy. Free and fair elections were held for the presidency in November 1990 and for parliament in October 1991 and September 1993. Freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press were instituted. A wide range of political parties representing the full spectrum of political views were established.

In November 1990, Lech Walesa was elected President for a five-year term. From 1991 to 1993, three parliamentary coalitions of post-Solidarity origin parties governed in quick succession, none longer than 14 months. Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, at Walesa's request, formed a government and served as its Prime Minister until October 1991. His government continued the Mazowiecki government's "Big Bang" package of economic reform, which introduced world prices and greatly expanded the scope of private enterprise.

Poland held its first free parliamentary elections in October 1991. More than 100 parties participated. No single party received more than 13% of the total vote. President Walesa then asked first Bronislaw Geremek--a leader of the Democratic Union--and then Jan Olszewski--the candidate of a minority coalition of five parties--to attempt to form a government. Olszewski succeeded in putting together a coalition government that was ratified by parliament. After a vote of no-confidence in June 1992, however, Olszewski and his cabinet were forced to resign over their efforts to purge alleged former secret police informers from political life.

Five weeks later, a new minority coalition government, led by Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka of the Democratic Union, was voted into office. Deep ideological differences created tension among the coalition partners, however, especially when a controversial anti-abortion law was passed in the Sejm. The Solidarity Union's decision to withdraw support for the Suchocka government led President Walesa to dissolve the parliament on May 28, 1993, after a vote of no-confidence.

The Suchocka government continued to govern until parliamentary elections in September 1993. These elections took place under a new electoral law designed to limit the number of small parties in parliament by requiring them to receive at least 5% of the total vote to enter the Sejm . The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), comprised of the SDRP and more than two dozen parties loyal to it, received the most votes, with 21%, and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) with 15% came in second. The largest post-Solidarity party, the Democratic Union, came in third with 11% of the vote. Most of the small center and right parties failed to enter the parliament, as did the Solidarity Union.

After the election, the SLD and PSL formed a governing coalition. Waldemar Pawlak, leader of the junior partner PSL, became Prime Minister. Relations between President Walesa and the Prime Minister remained poor throughout the Pawlak government, with President Walesa charging Pawlak with furthering personal and party interests while neglecting matters of state importance.

Following a number of scandals implicating Pawlak and increasing political tension over control of the armed forces, President Walesa demanded Pawlak's resignation in January 1995. In the ensuing political crisis, the coalition removed Pawlak from office and replaced him with the SLD's Jozef Oleksy as the new Prime Minister.

In November 1995, Poland held its second post-war free presidential elections. SLD leader Aleksander Kwasniewski defeated Walesa by a narrow margin-51.7% to 48.3%. Soon after Walesa's defeat, Interior Minister Andrzej Milczanowski accused Oleksy of longtime collaboration with Soviet and later Russian intelligence. In the ensuing political crisis, Oleksy resigned. For his successor, The SLD-PSL coalition turned to deputy Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz-who is linked to, but not a member of the SLD. Polish prosecutors subsequently decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge Oleksy, and a parliamentary commission decided in November 1996 that the Polish intelligence services may have violated rules of procedure in gathering evidence in the Oleksy case.

The Cimoszewicz government's main legislative accomplishments included reform of the central government structure and strengthened civilian control of the military. However, during this period the governing coalition engaged in bitter disputes over tax law, abortion, and the redistribution of several key ministerial posts. Much of the SLD-PSL in-fighting was conducted with an eye toward the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for no later than autumn 1997.

Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999.