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Two events in 1997 sealed support for AWS: one was the visit to Poland of Pope John Paul
II in June. But the deciding factor was – coincidentally – an act of God, in the form of the
severe flooding that affected much of Poland in the summer of 1997. The incompetent
reaction of much of the government, the sense of chaos, and some ill-judged remarks
by the prime minister were enough to shatter the claims of the SLD to be “competent”
administrators.
The victory by Solidarity Election Action in the September 1997 elections by six percent-
age points over the SLD showed a groundswell against the government that no-one had
seen coming. AWS obtained 201 parliamentary seats, the SLD 164, with 60 seats going to
the centrist Freedom Union (UW), 27 to the Polish Peasant Party (PSL), and 6 to the far-
right ROP (Movement for the Reconstruction of Poland). The new government coalition
between the AWS and UW had a majority of 60 seats above all other parties combined,
and 30 seats over an absolute majority of parliament. Although the SLD lost the election,
it actually increased its share of the vote from 21% in 1993 to 27%. Failure to remember
this crucial fact was one of the reasons for the over-confidence of the center right in the
coming four years.
II. The Right in Power…
and on the Way Out of It
Forming the Government and Making the First Mistakes
In forming the new government, the AWS leadership had two major issues to resolve: who
their junior partner would be, and the actual shape of the government. In terms of the
former question, here there was no alternative but to join together with the UW, led by
Leszek Balcerowicz, architect of the 1989-1990 free-market economic reform. This was an
inevitable but difficult decision, in the sense that Balcerowicz was implacably opposed to
the influence of trade unions in the political and economic system and privately regarded
Krzaklewski as a dangerous populist. Neither was it easy for Krzaklewski, who in turn
perceived Balcerowicz as an arch-representative of the evils of free-market economics, of
which he remained deeply suspicious. The second major decision was the precise nature of
the cabinet; there was an internal argument in AWS as to the model of government which
the victorious party should support. Krzaklewski leaned to a “government of experts,”
where ministerial posts would be filled by AWS-supported technocrats, leaving front-line
politicians in the background. These two factors – the need to find a compromise candi-
date for prime minister between AWS and UW, and the search for a prime minister who
would not have his own independent power base – led to the choice of Jerzy Buzek, a
hitherto unknown university professor, but long-time friend of Krzaklewski, to be prime
minister. Time would show that both the selection of Buzek and the decision by Krzak-
lewski not to enter the cabinet despite his strong political position, were at the core of the
failures of the future AWS-UW coalition government.
No sooner did the government establish itself, than splits and divisions between AWS and
UW started to emerge. Soon after agreement had been reached over the choice of Buzek
