Buzek steps down from party leadership but stays on as Prime Minister

Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek yesterday stepped down as leader of Solidarity E lection Action Social Movement (RS-AWS). Commenting on his resignation, Buz ek told a press conference in Katowice that he did not question the election results and accepted them with humility. "I resign from the leadership of t he party because it sustained a heavy defeat... We had lost contact with the people," Buzek said. The Prime Minister insisted, however, that he would not resign as head of the government. He said he hoped that the Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union (SLD-UP) coalition would establish a new government as soon as possible, whereupon he would hand over power. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A 3) P.J.