Solidarity founder Walesa quits politics

Lech Walesa says he is leaving political life

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) -- Lech Walesa, the legendary founder of Poland's Solidarity trade union, has announced he is withdrawing from political life after his disastrous showing in last week's presidential election.

"The election results have indicated that I should step to the side of the political scene and withdraw from current activities," Walesa said in a statement released on Sunday by the PAP news agency.

Ranked alongside Pope John Paul II as the world's best-known living Pole, Walesa rose to prominence when he set up the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union during a 1980 strike wave.

A 1983 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he led the creation of Poland's first post-war non-communist government in 1989 and became his country's first popularly elected president a year later.

But his erratic and abrasive political style was largely to blame for his failed re-election bid in 1995, when he was narrowly defeated by Aleksander Kwasniewski, an ex-communist turned social democrat.

Although still widely viewed in the West as "the man who destroyed communism," at home Walesa ranks among his country's least liked and most distrusted politicians.

The 57-year-old former shipyard electrician polled just one percent of the vote in last Sunday's election, which was won by the incumbent Kwasniewski, who received nearly 54 percent support.

Marian Krzaklewski, Walesa's successor as Solidarity leader and creator of the ruling AWS bloc of right-leaning parties, came third with 15 percent, trailing behind independent Andrzej Olechowski.

"The threat of the right's defeat in (next year's) parliamentary elections necessitates the building of a strong middle-of-the-road formation," Walesa said.

Walesa -- "the man who destroyed communism" -- pictured in 1980

"Only such a formation will be able to offset the growing influence of the left."

Walesa said he was giving his tiny Christian Democracy party a free rein in helping to create such a movement.

"My party keeps looking to me to do something... But my presence paralyses and dominates things, so I must find another place for myself," he added.

His statement followed calls by three of the four right-wing parties comprising the AWS for Krzaklewski to resign as the bloc's leader after his poor election showing.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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