Kwasniewski Builds Alliances to Challenge Conservative Government
In Poland, a new group of challengers are emerging
Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski continues his campaign to cobble together a strong and resolute coalition of left and centrist political parties to challenge the nationalist conservative coalition currently leading the Polish government. After repeated missteps, the twin Kaczynski brothers and their the Law and Justice coalition has fallen in popularity in the polls. Kwasniewski and his supporters see an opportunity to strike.
IHT has more on this . . .
The new movement, called the Left and Democrats, will be led by Poland’s former president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is considered one of the few politicians capable of both rebuilding the left and galvanizing enough support from other parties to defeat Law and Justice at the ballot box.
Left and Democrats is also sounding out an alliance with the center-right Civic Platform, the largest of the opposition parties, with the aim of establishing a strong and stable government.
“The Left and Democrats is taking another step toward becoming a serious alternative to the powers that govern Poland, including Law and Justice,” Kwasniewski said when introducing the movement this summer.
If Kwasniewski succeeds in restoring credibility to the center-left, he will deal a bitter blow to Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Law and Justice. Since winning the 2005 parliamentary elections, Kaczynski has pledged to rid the public administration of former communists and anyone who allegedly informed for the communist secret service.
He has also said Kwasniewski’s party – the Democratic Left Alliance, which is the successor to the former ruling communist party – infiltrated the economy and judiciary during the 1990s because no thorough purge of the security services had ever been carried out.
“Kwasniewski wants to bring the fragmented center-left together, end the political turmoil which we are witnessing, and revamp the Democratic Left Alliance,” said Marek Siwiec, a Polish legislator for the Socialist grouping in the European Parliament and former national security adviser to Kwasniewski when he was president.
