[NYTr] More Bad News for Bush: Opposition ousts government in Polish elections

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via Toronto Globe & Mail - Oct 22, 2007
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071022.wpoland1022/BNStory/International/home

Opposition ousts government in Polish elections

RYAN LUCAS
The Associated Press

WARSAW — An opposition party that wants Poland's troops out of Iraq has
ousted the ruling conservatives in elections, and the incoming
government promises to negotiate a tougher deal with the U.S. when it
comes to hosting a missile-defence base.

With more than 90 per cent of votes in the previous day's parliamentary
ballot counted, Monday's results showed pro-business Civic Platform
beating Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's nationalist conservatives
by nearly 10 percentage points, enough to allow them to form a
coalition government with an allied party.

Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk, like Kaczynski, favours good
relations with the United States. But Mr. Tusk argues Poland has not
benefited enough from its close ties with Washington and he wants the
country's 900-strong detachment in Iraq to come home soon.

"We've said that the mission should be completed in a very calm,
responsible way," the party's parliamentary chief Bogdan Zdrojewski
told The Associated Press.

He declined to give a date, saying "the decision will come once a
government is formed" after parliament meets Nov. 5.

Civic Platform also says Poland should drive a tough bargain in return
for hosting a missile-defence base, which the U.S. wants to install as
part of a shield offering some protection in Europe and beyond for
long-range missiles launched from Iran.

The party says it supports hosting the missile defence installations,
but has criticized Mr. Kaczynski for being too eager in public
statements to strike a deal ahead of negotiations. Party leaders have
said Poland also wants the U.S. Patriot short range and anti-aircraft
missile system — which hasn't been part of the proposed system — to
beef up its own national defences.

U.S. plans to push ahead with missile defence installations in Poland
and the Czech Republic have set it at odds with Russia, which views the
shield as a step to undermine the deterrent value of its nuclear
arsenal.

Mr. Zdrojewski, who visited missile-defence sites in the United States
with other Polish lawmakers earlier this year, said "there is no doubt
the technology is of the highest order, and defensive, not offensive in
nature."

Civic Platform's triumph amounted to a bruising verdict on Mr.
Kaczynski's two-year crusade to belatedly purge former communists from
public life and fight for the country's interests in the European Union
with combative methods that marginalized the country in Europe.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, a staunch critic of Mr. Kaczynski
and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, praised his compatriots
for their choice.

"We saved our honour," Mr. Walesa said on TVN24 television. "The
winning party, I think, will focus on programs to take advantage of as
much as possible in the European Union, and at the same time will
improve our image."

The election — which Jaroslaw Kaczynski forced two years early in a
failed gamble to strengthen his support after a coalition with two
smaller parties collapsed — appeared to be a victory for an EU-friendly
course and a more market-friendly approach to an already booming
economy.

With 90.8 per cent of the vote counted, results showed Civic Platform
ahead with 41.6 per cent, or 208 seats in the 460-seat lower house of
parliament. The ruling Law and Justice Party trailed with 32 per cent,
or 164 seats.

Civic Platform would have a majority with its ally, the Polish Peasants
Party, which the results showed winning 8.8 per cent — or 35 seats.

Turnout was 53.8 per cent, higher than any parliamentary elections
since the fall of communism, according to the central electoral
committee.

The results mean the end of a double-act that saw two identical twins
holding the country's two highest offices. President Kaczynski will
remain in office with a term lasting until 2010 — and he could make
life awkward for the new government by exercising his veto powers.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski acknowledged defeat soon after exit polls showed
Civic Platform far ahead, and ruled out a coalition with the election
winner. He pledged to use his time in the opposition to rebuild, and to
keep a close check on the new government.