2000 Polish presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round with more than 50% of the vote.

2000 Polish presidential election

8 October 2000
Turnout	61.08%
Nominee Aleksander Kwaśniewski Andrzej Olechowski Party Independent [nb 1] Independent [nb 2] Popular vote 9,485,224 3,044,141 Percentage 53.9% 17.3%   Nominee Marian Krzaklewski Jarosław Kalinowski Party AWS PSL Popular vote 2,739,621 1,047,949 Percentage 15.6% 6.0%
Results by powiat
President before election Aleksander Kwaśniewski Independent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski Independent

Background

President Kwaśniewski was seen as very likely to win re-election in the run up to the presidential election[1] with polls showing that his popularity was high as 70% support.[2] His main challenger was expected to be Marian Krzaklewski from the Solidarity Electoral Action, which had formed the government since winning the last parliamentary elections in 1997.[3] The other main candidate was a former Foreign Minister and more liberal conservative Andrzej Olechowski,[3] who won support from voters who were discontented with both of the other main candidates and in particular younger voters, businessmen and intellectuals.[4]

Candidates seen as having less of a chance included Andrzej Lepper, a populist farmers leader who opposed entry into the European Union and former president Lech Wałęsa.[3] Wałęsa was rejected as the candidate for the Solidarity party he had won the presidency for, and thus ran separately in the election.[5]

In order to be elected in the first round a candidate had to gain over 50% of the vote. If no candidate reached this level, then a second round would have been held between the top two candidates. As the campaign continued, the biggest question in the election was whether or not incumbent President Kwaśniewski would win the 50% required to avoid a second round.[6]

In the August before the election Kwaśniewski and another former president and candidate Lech Wałęsa were investigated by a court on allegations that they had been informers for the Communist secret police.[2] If they had been found guilty they could have been banned from seeking election to political office for 10 years.[3] However they both claimed that the evidence had been manipulated by political opponents and were cleared by the court.[7]

Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski attacked Kwaśniewski for his past as a Communist party activist.[8] However opinion polls in August showed this had little effect with Kwaśniewski well ahead with over 60% support, while Krzaklewski was second and Olechowski third, but both a long way behind.[3] President Kwaśniewski's campaign focused on reconciling all of Poland with slogans including "Poland, our common home".[9] Most voters felt he had done well as President and he was seen as having done a good job in guiding Poland to membership of NATO.[10] Krzaklewski's popularity was not high due to the infighting in the government led by his Solidarity party since they had won the 1997 parliamentary election.[11] Meanwhile, Lech Wałęsa trailed badly in the polls with only about 2% support, which Wałęsa saw as being due to voters seeing him as being responsible for the pain involved in the transition from communism.[5]

In the election 3 candidates ran on platforms against the European Union.[12] During the campaign one of them, Andrzej Lepper, was arrested for illegally blocking a customs post, however he claimed that this was an attempt to sabotage his campaign.[13]

As the election neared Kwaśniewski dropped in the polls and it became uncertain whether he would win the 50% required to avoid a second round. This followed a television advertisement from Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski in which Kwaśniewski was accused of having mocked Pope John Paul II.[14] The video showed Kwaśniewski apparently urging his security advisor to kiss the ground is a parody of the Pope, although Kwaśniewski claimed this was inaccurate.[6] At least one poll showed Kwaśniewski's support having dropped by 10% in one week following this, however it was the other main candidate, Andrzej Olechowski, who benefited as Krzaklewski was seen as being tarnished for having run a negative campaign.[11]

Candidates

There was no second round since Aleksander Kwaśniewski got over 50% in the first round.

First Round

• 
  Member of the Sejm Dariusz Grabowski (Coalition for Poland), 50
• 
  Member of the Sejm Piotr Ikonowicz (Polish Socialist Party), 44
• 
  Member of the Sejm Jan Łopuszański (Polish Agreement), 45
• 
  Former Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kalinowski (Polish People's Party), 38
• 
  Former Member of the Sejm Janusz Korwin-Mikke (Real Politics Union), 57
• 
  Chairman of NSZZ Solidarity Marian Krzaklewski (Solidarity Electoral Action), 50
• 
  Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Independent), 45
• 
  Agriculturer Andrzej Lepper (Self-Defense), 46
• 
  Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrzej Olechowski (Independent), 53
• 
  Former President Lech Wałęsa (Christian Democracy), 57

• Businessman Bogdan Pawłowski (Independent), 55
• Generał broni Tadeusz Wilecki (National Party), 55

Withdrawn

• 
  Former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski (ROP), 70

Results

Incumbent President Kwaśniewski won the election in the first round receiving almost 54% of the vote.[4] Independent Andrzej Olechowski came second beating Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski into third place.[4] Meanwhile, former President Lech Wałęsa only won 1% of the vote[15] and following the election stood down as leader of his small Christian Democratic party.[4][16]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Independent (SLD)	9,485,224	53.90
	Andrzej Olechowski	Independent (SKL)	3,044,141	17.30
	Marian Krzaklewski	Solidarity Electoral Action	2,739,621	15.57
	Jarosław Kalinowski	Polish People's Party	1,047,949	5.95
	Andrzej Lepper	Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	537,570	3.05
	Janusz Korwin-Mikke	Real Politics Union	252,499	1.43
	Lech Wałęsa	Christian Democracy of the 3rd Polish Republic	178,590	1.01
	Jan Łopuszański	Polish Agreement	139,682	0.79
	Dariusz Grabowski	Coalition for Poland	89,002	0.51
	Piotr Ikonowicz	Polish Socialist Party	38,672	0.22
	Tadeusz Wilecki	National Party	28,805	0.16
	Bogdan Pawłowski	Independent	17,164	0.10
Total			17,598,919	100.00
Valid votes			17,598,919	98.93
Invalid/blank votes			190,312	1.07
Total votes			17,789,231	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			29,122,304	61.08
Source: PKW

Notes

1. The President of Poland traditionally resigns from party membership after taking office. Although Kwaśniewski was officially an independent, his campaign was endorsed and funded by the Democratic Left Alliance.
2. Olechowski was registered as an independent but ran as the candidate of the Conservative People's Party.

References

1. "Europe: Can Poland's government survive?". The Economist. 2000-06-17. p. 50.
2. Reed, John (2000-08-04). "Ghosts from Poland's communist past come to haunt presidential hopefuls: Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski will have their denials of co-operating with secret police tested". Financial Times. p. 9.
3. Boyes, Roger (2000-08-08). "Secret police files to decide Walesa's fate". The Times. p. 13.
4. "Europe: The changing Poles". The Economist. 2000-10-14. p. 59.
5. Connolly, Kate (2007-10-07). "Past is not enough for modern Poland: Lech Walesa won the fight against communism in the 80s, but is failing to win over voters in 2000". The Guardian. p. 18.
6. "Polish president poised for first-round win". Financial Times. 2000-10-07. p. 3.
7. Connolly, Kate (2000-08-12). "Walesa cleared of cold war spy claims". The Guardian. p. 2.
8. "Polish polls". Financial Times. 2000-07-04. p. 20.
9. "Polish president secures re-election with strong first-round win". Financial Times. 2000-10-09. p. 3.
10. Connolly, Kate (2000-10-09). "Polish president heads to victory". The Guardian. p. 16.
11. Blazyca, George (2000-10-07). "Videotape blurs the picture for Polish president". The Scotsman. p. 11.
12. Fletcher, Martin (2000-10-05). "Frustrated Poles lose faith in EU as wait drags on". The Times. p. 18.
13. "Polish election contender arrested". Financial Times. 2000-08-25. p. 6.
14. "Polish president suffers in poll". The Irish Times. 2000-10-05. p. 10.
15. "Polish leader wins second term". The Times. 2000-10-09. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
16. "Humiliated Wałęsa steps down as party chairman". Evening Standard. 2000-10-16. p. 4.