2000 Polish presidential election

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Presidential elections were held in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round with more than 50% of the vote, the only time a direct presidential election in Poland has not gone to a second round. Kwaśniewski would be the last president to be re-elected until Andrzej Duda in 2020.

Electoral system

The President of Poland is elected for a five-year term using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a run-off is held between the top two candidates. Presidents serve a five-year term and can be re-elected once. The president-elect takes the oath of office on the day the previous President's term expires before the National Assembly (a joint session of the Sejm and the Senate).

In order to be registered to contest the election, a candidate must be a Polish citizen, be at least 35 years old on the day of the first round of the election, and have collected at least 100,000 voters' signatures. In 2000, 13 candidates registered, but one - former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski - withdrew before the first round, so 12 valid candidates appeared on the ballot.

Background

Aleksander Kwaśniewski was elected in the 1995 presidential election and governed the country alongside the Democratic Left Alliance-Polish People's Party coalition until the 1997 parliamentary election, when the opposition, united under the Solidarity Electoral Action and led by the trade union's leader, Marian Krzaklewski, came to power, in a coalition with the Freedom Union. The coalition put up Jerzy Buzek as the next Prime Minister, as Krzaklewski had been seeking to challenge Kwaśniewski for the Presidency instead.<ref name=Dudek/>

Campaign

President Kwaśniewski was seen as very likely to win re-election in the run up to the presidential election<ref name=survive>Template:Cite news</ref> with polls showing that his popularity was high as 70% support.<ref name=secret>Template:Cite news</ref> His main challenger was expected to be Marian Krzaklewski from the Solidarity Electoral Action, which had formed the government since winning the last parliamentary elections in 1997.<ref name=files>Template:Cite news</ref> The other main candidate was a former Foreign Minister and more liberal conservative Andrzej Olechowski,<ref name=files/> who won support from voters who were discontented with both of the other main candidates and in particular younger voters, businessmen and intellectuals.<ref name=changing>Template:Cite news</ref>

Candidates seen as having less of a chance included Andrzej Lepper, a populist farmers leader who opposed entry into the European Union and former president Lech Wałęsa.<ref name=files/> Wałęsa was rejected as the candidate for the Solidarity party he had won the presidency for, and thus ran separately in the election.<ref name=enough>Template:Cite news</ref>

In order to be elected in the first round a candidate had to gain over 50% of the vote. If no candidate reached this level, then a second round would have been held between the top two candidates. As the campaign continued, the biggest question in the election was whether or not incumbent President Kwaśniewski would win the 50% required to avoid a second round.<ref name=poised>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the August before the election Kwaśniewski and another former president and candidate Lech Wałęsa were investigated by a court on allegations that they had been informers for the Communist secret police.<ref name=secret/> If they had been found guilty they could have been banned from seeking election to political office for 10 years.<ref name=files/> However they both claimed that the evidence had been manipulated by political opponents and were cleared by the court.<ref name=cleared>Template:Cite news</ref>

Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski attacked Kwaśniewski for his past as a Communist party activist.<ref name=polls>Template:Cite news</ref> However opinion polls in August showed this had little effect with Kwaśniewski well ahead with over 60% support, while Krzaklewski was second and Olechowski third, but both a long way behind.<ref name=files/> President Kwaśniewski's campaign focused on reconciling all of Poland with slogans including "Poland, our common home".<ref name=secures>Template:Cite news</ref> Most voters felt he had done well as President and he was seen as having done a good job in guiding Poland to membership of NATO.<ref name=heads>Template:Cite news</ref> Krzaklewski's popularity was not high due to the infighting in the government led by his Solidarity party since they had won the 1997 parliamentary election.<ref name=videotape>Template:Cite news</ref> Meanwhile, Lech Wałęsa trailed badly in the polls with only about 2% support, which Wałęsa saw as being due to voters seeing him as being responsible for the pain involved in the transition from communism.<ref name=enough/>

In the election 3 candidates ran on platforms against the European Union.<ref name=faith>Template:Cite news</ref> During the campaign one of them, Andrzej Lepper, was arrested for illegally blocking a customs post, however he claimed that this was an attempt to sabotage his campaign.<ref name=arrested>Template:Cite news</ref>

As the election neared Kwaśniewski dropped in the polls and it became uncertain whether he would win the 50% required to avoid a second round. This followed a television advertisement from Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski in which Kwaśniewski was accused of having mocked Pope John Paul II.<ref name=suffers>Template:Cite news</ref> The video showed Kwaśniewski apparently urging his security advisor to kiss the ground is a parody of the Pope, although Kwaśniewski claimed this was inaccurate.<ref name=poised/> At least one poll showed Kwaśniewski's support having dropped by 10% in one week following this, however it was the other main candidate, Andrzej Olechowski, who benefited as Krzaklewski was seen as being tarnished for having run a negative campaign.<ref name=videotape/>

Campaign spending

Candidate Template:Abbr Template:Abbr
Spent Template:Abbr Spent Template:Abbr
Kwaśniewski 11,572,000 1,22 5,176,889 0,55
Olechowski 1,965,000 0,65 879,069 0,29
Krzaklewski 10,717,000 3,91 4,794,393 1,75
Kalinowski 2,113,000 2,02 945,278 0,90
Lepper 56,000 0,10 25,052 0,04
Korwin-Mikke 75,000 0,30 33,552 0,13
Wałęsa 299,000 1,67 133,761 0,75
Łopuszański 292,000 2,10 130,630 0,94
Grabowski 74,000 0,83 33,104 0,37
Ikonowicz 29,000 0,75 12,973 0,34
Wilecki 53,000 1,82 23,710 0,81
Pawłowski 15,000 0,87 6710 0,39
Source: Dudek<ref name=Dudek>Template:Cite book</ref>

Candidates

There was no second round since Aleksander Kwaśniewski got over 50% in the first round.

First Round

Withdrawn

Opinion polls

Pollster Date of polling Kwaśniewski
Template:Small 		Olechowski
Template:Small 		Krzaklewski
Template:Small 		Kalinowski
Template:Small 		Lepper
Template:Small 		Korwin
Template:Small 		Wałęsa
Template:Small 		Template:Ill
Template:Small 		Grabowski
Template:Small 		Ikonowicz
Template:Small 		Template:Ill
Template:Small 		Template:Ill
Template:Small 		Olszewski
Template:Small 		Others and
Undecideds
style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" | style="background:Template:Party color;" |
Election results 8 October 2000 53.90 17.30 15.57 5.95 3.05 1.43 1.01 0.79 0.51 0.22 0.16 0.10 - -
CBOS Sept.-Oct. 2000 55 13 7 6 3 1 1 1 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 0 1 12
CBOS September 2000 62 10 7 5 2 2 1 1 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 0 1 8
CBOS August 2000 62 11 6 4 2 1 4 1 0 <0.5 0 0 1 8
CBOS July 2000 62 11 7 3 3 1 3 1 - - <0.5 0 3 6
CBOS June 2000 65 11 5 2 3 1 3 <0.5 - - <0.5 0 2 7
Election called by Sejm Marshal Maciej Płażyński (16 June 2000)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

CBOS May 2000 62 11 4 4 3 2 3 <0.5 - - <0.5 0 1 6
CBOS April 2000 61 12 4 - 2 <0.5 4 - - - <0.5 0 3 8
CBOS January 2000 55 8 6 2 3 2 4 - - - <0.5 0 3 8
Sources: <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Results

Incumbent President Kwaśniewski won the election in the first round receiving almost 54% of the vote.<ref name=changing/> Independent Andrzej Olechowski came second beating Solidarity candidate Krzaklewski into third place.<ref name=changing/> Meanwhile, former President Lech Wałęsa only won 1% of the vote<ref name="second">Template:Cite news</ref> and following the election stood down as leader of his small Christian Democratic party.<ref name=changing/><ref name=humiliated>Template:Cite news</ref>

Template:Election results

Notes

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References

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Template:Polish presidential elections Template:History of the Third Polish Republic Template:Polish elections

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