POLAND: Former President Lech Walesa voices his support of Bronislaw Komorowski ahead of presidential election

Record ID: 345494

  • Title: POLAND: Former President Lech Walesa voices his support of Bronislaw Komorowski ahead of presidential election
  • Date: 19th June 2010
  • Summary: GDANSK, POLAND (JUNE 18, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO GDANSK SHIPYARD POLISH FLAG AND SOLIDARITY SIGN ON ENTRANCE TO SHIPYARD FORMER PRESIDENT OF POLAND, LECH WALESA SITTING AT DESK CRUCIFIX (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) FORMER PRESIDENT OF POLAND, LECH WALESA, SAYING: "The best candidate is Komorowski. This is a man of dialogue, of common sense and seriousness and he has already proven all of this. So knowing what he was like in the past we can anticipate that in the future he will act in a similar way." "Poland now has a position in Europe within the family of European countries and wise and efficient rule is important." (ANSWERING QUESTION ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF KACZYNSKI WINS) "There will be a lot emotions, a lot of unnecessary in-fighting, peaceful fighting of course because in the middle of Europe you can't afford anything else. So a lot of effort and energy will be lost on in-fighting." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN THE STREETS OF GDANSK (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) GDANSK RESIDENT, KRZYSZTOF, SAYING: "Jaroslaw, well there are enough arguments, don't you think? He could have done something when he was Prime Minister and he did nothing during two years, during two years this government did nothing." STREETS OF GDANSK (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) GDANSK RESIDENT, NATALIA, SAYING: "I would rather support Mr Komorowski. I like him more because after the Smolensk air crash Mr Kaczynski modified his views and "changed" and now says he wants to unite the country." STREETS OF GDANSK
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAXSBUR3ZVKHH3OE4A1L2HXSHC
  • Story Text: Former Polish President Lech Walesa on Friday (June 18) reiterated his support for the current acting President Bronislaw Komorowski at the upcoming presidential elections.
    Poland will elect a successor on Sunday (June 20) to Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia on April 10 along with 95 others, including his wife and much of Poland's political and military elite.
    Polls have so far showed Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's governing centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, ahead of the other frontrunner, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, brother of late President Lech. But he is still short of the 50 percent required to win outright on Sunday. A runoff would then be held on July 4.
    Komorowski became Poland's acting president on Lech Kaczynski's death in his capacity as speaker of parliament.
    Speaking in an interview with Reuters TV in the Baltic port of Gdansk, cradle of the pro-democracy Solidarity movement to which both candidates once belonged and which toppled the communist regime in 1989, former President and co-founder of Solidarity Lech Walesa said Komorowski was the man for the job.
    "This is a man of dialogue, of common sense and seriousness and he has already proven all of this. So knowing what he was like in the past we can anticipate that in the future he will act in a similar way," he said.
    When asked what would happen if Kaczynski were to win, Walesa said, "There will be a lot emotions, a lot of unnecessary in-fighting, peaceful fighting of course because in the middle of Europe you can't afford anything else. So a lot of effort and energy will be lost on in-fighting."
    Both Komorowski and Kaczynski were due to end their election campaigns on Friday with rallies in Gdansk.
    The third top candidate in the race for presidency is Grzegorz Napieralski, the head of the leftist SLD party.
    He like Komorowski, is in favour of bringing Poland into the eurozone.
    "About the euro, I want to say that the President of the Polish Central Bank is very good. I'm waiting for his plan, his map but I deeply believe that it's going to be soon. Poland is mobile enough to be able to tighten the belt and to prepare properly and adopt the euro because it was written in the accession treaty. We should adopt it on good conditions and with a good exchange rate. But first of all, we need to bring public finances in order again," Napieralski said in an interview with Reuters TV.
    On Friday, Komorowski began his day by attending a Women's Congress in the capital Warsaw where he offered to grant more equality to women. Of the ten candidates running for Presidency, none are women.
    Speaking at the event, where the congress of 4,000 women held a mock vote, Komorowski admitted there was one real problem with his campaign.
    "I would like to say that I have a lot of disadvantages, and of them all their is one main one: I am a man. But I would like to tell all the ladies here that I see the role of the man as the one who can stand alongside the weak."
    Earlier Kaczynski paid a powerfully symbolic visit to the tomb of his twin brother, Poland's late president on the 61st anniversary of their birth.
    Kaczynski and his wife Maria were buried in the crypt of Wawel cathedral in the ancient capital Krakow, a place traditionally reserved for royalty and national heroes.
    Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his niece, Lech's daughter Marta, entered the crypt holding red roses and spent 20 minutes there in private prayer and reflection before attending a short mass. Television cameras and journalists were not allowed in.
    The crash two months ago triggered an outpouring of sympathy for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister and now leader of the right-wing main opposition Law and Justice party (PiS).
    Kaczynski, a bachelor, decided to run for the presidency saying he wanted to safeguard his brother's legacy. He has proved an astute campaigner, toning down his traditionally aggressive style in a bid to win over middle-of-the-road voters.
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