Leading SLD politician Andrzej Urbanczyk drowns while on holiday

Leading social democrat Andrzej Urbanczyk, spokesman for the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and a senior member of parliament, drowned yesterday while on holiday on the Greek island of Corfu. The Foreign Ministry confirmed that Urbanczyk, 54, had drowned, but declined to give any further details of the circumstances surrounding his death. A spokesman for the SLD would only say, "He drowned off the coast of Corfu." Urbanczyk, a former editor of the left-wing daily Trybuna, played a key role in restoring the fortunes of the SLD after its 1997 general election defeat, thanks to his smooth presentation of policy. He joined the SLD leadership soon after Poland's transition to democracy in 1989, after the country's old communist ruling party remodeled itself on social democratic lines. (Reuters)