Law and Justice have chosen a non-party member to take on Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz for the crucial position of president of Warsaw in the local elections on 21. November.

“Law and Justice has recognized that it is time to end the partisan politics of local governments, as I am not a member of Law and Justice,” said Czeslaw Bielecki, an architect by profession who has a long history of political activism dating back to the oppososition movement during the communist-era.

Bielecki accuses Gronkiewicz-Waltz of inaction during her time as president of Poland’s capital city and vows to regenerate the area around the Palace of Culture.

Czeslaw Bielecki joined the Solidarity trade union and was an advisor to President Walesa between 1990 - 1995. He was also an advisor to the Jan Olszewski government in 1992.

In 1997-2001 he was a member of Solidarity Election Action government and led by the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. (pg)