Today marks the 21st anniversary of parliamentary elections which brought Solidarity a landslide victory, ending decades of communism in Poland.

The post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) is to table a draft resolution in Parliament on the 21st anniversary of the 1989 election. In the draft, the election is described as the turning point in the grand political transformations in Poland – from an non-democratic and not fully independent state into a democratic and independent country, a member of the European Union and NATO.

The draft proposed by the Democratic Left Alliance says that Poland would not have achieved this historic success if it had not been for the nation’s commitment to change and the determination, prudence, far-sightedness and courage of the leaders of the political camps of the time.

Among those leaders, the draft mentions general Wojciech Jaruzelski, described as the main initiator and patron of Polish reforms, and Lech Wałęsa, ‘the historic leader of Solidarity’. The other architects of Polish reforms mentioned in the document are former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and former Aleksander Kwaśniewski, as well as the late President Lech Kaczyński and the late Solidarity leaders Bronisław Geremek and Jacek Kuroń.

Even though it was only a semi-free ballot in June 1989, in which Solidarity could gain a maximum of 35 percent of the seats in the Lower House, the outcome of the elections is seen as a milestone on the Polish road towards democracy. A wide range of events is scheduled in Warsaw aimed at re-creating the unique atmosphere of 4 June 1989 in concerts, happenings, city games, parades and dance parties.

The Solidarity opposition acquired 160 seats in the 460-seat Lower House and 92 seats in the 100-seat Upper House – the Senate. The election to the Senate was completely free.
As a result of the June election, the first Solidarity-led government was formed, with Tadeusz Mazowiecki as Prime Minister. (mk)

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