Poland Prepares for Early Elections

WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 11, 2007 — -- Poland's Parliament voted to dissolve itself last week, forcing a new election in October, two years ahead of schedule. It was a surprising fracture in a government that took power with so much optimism.

Two years ago Poles elected Lech Kaczynski as their president. In parliamentary elections just days before, the Law and Justice party won a majority of votes, and voters were hardly bothered by the fact that its leader was Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Lech's twin brother.

Law and Justice had won enough votes to form a coalition government so Jaroslaw Kaczynski became prime minister and Poland ended up with a pair of twins holding the two top posts in the country. To many Poles, this was an embarrassment they tried to cover up with humor and jokes. But to an equal number of their compatriots, this was no laughing matter. They believed the Kaczynskis could rid Poland of remnants of its communist past and make it more just socially.

Right from the outset, the twins managed to polarize public opinion. And they have been doing so for two years, helping create a rift within Polish society not seen since the fall of communism in 1989.

The Kaczynskis were close associates of Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and in the 1980s contributed to the downfall of the communist state. Their credentials may seem impeccable, but as Walesa once observed, "They're great at destruction, but they're bad news otherwise. I had to get rid of them."

Now, two years on, this destructive streak may have caught up with the Kaczynskis. The Cabinet fell Friday just after the parliament dissolved itself under pressure from opposition parties. Poland will hold new parliamentary elections Oct. 21 and the campaign has just been launched.

Alexander Kwasniewski, ex-president and now the leader of the Democratic Left, calls this, "The most severe crisis in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989."

During his nearly two years in office, Prime Minister Kaczynski was accused of trying intensely to turn back the clock on Poland's hard-won democracy. Public television is now under his party's control, laws are often accused of being applied indiscriminately, there are allegations of the government trying to influence sovereign courts and many opposition politicians and journalists feel they are being spied on and their phones are tapped.

It may seem ironic that at the time of Solidarity, both Kaczynskis fought for civic liberties side by side with Walesa. However, as sociologist Marcin Bukowski observes, "He [Jaroslaw Kaczynski] truly believes he's doing this for the good of the nation and all means justify the end of ridding Poland of evil. The problem is that evil is different things to different people."