Party development and the Polish presidential election of October 2000

Abstract

The decisive victory of incumbent president, Aleksander Kwaśniewski in the year 2000 was generally expected, given his high popularity ratings and the absence of an effective challenger .However, comparative analysis with previous Polish presidential elections shows that although the electoral process has long been routinised and the legitimacy of the victor assured, the effects have been highly disruptive for the political parties and (partly in consequence) for the political institutions. The lack of synchronisation of presidential and parliamentary elections disrupts the normal processes of parliamentary government. It raises the spectre of uneasy cohabitation of president and prime minister In 2000 the effects on the parties were particularly profound. Both Solidarity and the Freedom Union ‘learnt lessons’ from their past experience, but they proved inappropriate ones. The election further consolidated the social democratic Left, while accelerating the disintegration of the Right and generating the reshaping of the Centre.