885096451

POLITICAL

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

[Text] The Sejm has decided to dissolve itself this coming autumn, against the wishes of the president, who called for a 26 May dissolution. Center Accord [PC] believes that by acting thus in opposition to the president, “the Sejm has put a finał end to its credibility” and the PC is announcing “the organization of society to battle for a democratically elected parliament.” GAZETA WYBORCZA polled the following for their opinions: Donald Tusk, deputy chairman of the Liberal-Democratic Congress [KLD], Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski, secretary generał of the Forum of the Dem-ocratic Right [FPD], Włodzimierz Olejnik from the PPS [Polish Socialist Party] Central Executive Committee, and Waldemar Kuczyński, Democratic Union [UD] activist.

Tusk: Opportunities for the Liberals Are on the Decline

The KLD favored the May datę for elections. Today we find ourselves in an ambiguous situation.

Autumn elections will give the government of our col-league Jan Krzysztof Bielecki several additional months. The primary result of this will be mainly a greater number of privatized enterprises and the intensive building of a Capital market infrastructure. On the other hand, one cannot expect a marked improvement in the quality of life.

For this reason, time may work to our disadvantage. It is likely that the autumn electoral test will turn out to be worse for our Congress than the May test. On the other hand, the opportunities for such postcommunist groups as the SdRP [Social Democrats of the Polish Republic] and the OPZZ [All-Polish Trade Unions Agreement] and for Tyminski’s party will grow.

I do not think that the ncxt govemment will be as liberał as the present govemment. That is why Bielecki, Lewandowski, and Zawiślak will try to make maximum use of the time allotted them. It will not be easy. The last Sejm debate revealed the growing strength of the parliamen-tary left (not only the post-PZPR [Polish United Wro-kers Party] left) and the disinclination of the left toward capitalist reforms.

Likewise the PC, the natural ally of the liberals, may distance itself from the government during the extended election campaign. Thus, Bielecki’s team will be very isolated.

The vast majority of deputies know that they will not return to Wiejska Street after the elections. Conse-quently, they want to prolong their operation in the orbit of power. The unclear, unstable political situation in which no new constitution exists and there is a political contract with the Sejm will remain in force for a very long time.

I do not believe that Kaczynski’s counteraction will succeed (for society, the elections are a secondary issue).

On the other hand, the effect of this counteraction may be the destabilization and worsening of the social atmo-sphere.

Turmoil in the Sejm will strengthen the position of the president. Not everyone will be happy about this. While the KLD supports Wałęsa, we bclicvc that the efficiency of the State should emanate from the strength of democratic structures and not from the strength of the indi-vidual. But if no such structures exist, a one-person executive authority is better than no executive authority.

Ujazdowski: The Center Accord Is Involved in an Election Ploy

The FPD favored May elections, but it does not trcat the Sejirfs decision as a national tragedy.

This is particularly the case sińce the picture portrayed by the PC that the Belvedere camp favors May elections while all other forces are opposed is untrue and was created exclusively for the use of the election campaign. Just recently President Lech Wałęsa spokc in favorof the autumn datę. His announccmcnt of a compcting draft electoral law was one of the reasons for putting off the datę.

The falsc asscrtion that the main struggle is between the Solidarity camp and the forces of the old regime is likewise an election ploy. The real quarrel is taking place over the introduction of the capitalist market economy in Poland.

Jarosław Kaczyński is incorrect when he says that the average Citizen thinks in the categories of communism/ anticommunism. The PC is advancing the slogan nomenklatura but it does not disclose where the nomenklatura exists. During the presidential campaign the PC stated that nomenklatura existed in the government and State administration. Now the PC cannot say this because it supports the govemment.

Moreover, the PC operates in strange categories. If the president supports deputy Wiesława Ziółkowska for NIK [Supreme Chamber of Control] president, he does not favor postcommunist forces. Meanwhile, in the opinion of the PC, one of the Solidarity groups in parliament favors these forces when it expresses substantive reser-vations regarding the presidential electoral draft law.

The recent announcement of the PC that it will organize society to fight for the autumn election datę, which is already decided, is unacceptable and bad for the country and the reform. If the authority of the institutions in which the PC itself is grounded is so readily questioned, thcn we must be aware that this will bear consequences for the futurę State order and the futurę parliament, evcn if that parliament is fully democratic.

Kuczyński: The Mischief-Making Agreement?

The autumn election datę has the advantagc that it will be possible to make morę extensive preparation of the electoral law and the parliamentary electoral campaign