Local contests set the stage for nat'l race

Would-be presidents of Poland are eyeing Warsaw's top political job as a stepping-stone to the nation's highest office. "There is much to fight for … the mayor (of Warsaw) is an important person - he deals with big money and big responsibility," said Michał Kulesza, a professor who specializes in local government at Warsaw University. But the biggest contest is not the only one. This September, Poles will decide who will lead 2,489 municipalities and who will fill 46,837 posts on local councils. "Local government is gaining in importance," Kulesza said. When the first local elections were held in 1990, there was only one level of local government. Today, various layers of administration and employees exist - a situation that reflects a more decentralized national government and more powerful local governments. While the average voivodship (province) controls zł. 1 billion ($250 million), the budget of Mazowieckie - the administrative region that includes Warsaw - is significantly higher due to its 5 million citizens, its greater number of companies and its greater number of profitable companies," Kulesza said.

Eye on the prize Warsaw will be the electoral prize in September. The head of the capital city's government receives the most attention from local leaders, which can affect the activities of major companies. Warsaw is the country's business capital, and an electoral victory here can set the stage for a run for the president's office. Political parties are gathering forces behind their best candidates. Lech Kaczyński, the co-founder of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, and Andrzej Olechowski, the co-founder of Civic Platform (PO), are two former presidential candidates who are front-runners for the top local post. Ryszard Kalisz, a Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) stalwart who received significant support in polls, has declined to run for mayor. Prime Minister Leszek Miller said last week that the best SLD candidate would be Józef Oleksy, a former prime minister and now head of the Sejm's European Committee. Oleksy was not available for comment last week. The Peasants Party (PSL) announced Janusz Wojciechowski, a deputy marshal of the Sejm, and Janusz Piechocinski, an MP and the chairman of the Mazowsze PSL, as potential mayoral candidates. The main candidates are focusing on corruption, traffic and unemployment as problems that must be dealt with during the mayor's four-year term, although each has different solutions.

Kaczyński, 53, a right-of-center politician, leads a recent poll by the Election Research Center (OBW), an independent research company, with 29.6% support among those willing to vote. "Warsaw needs new structures, new men," Kaczyński told the WBJ last week. The former Solidarity activist and one-time justice minster emphasizes fighting crime and bribery. "When I win, I will enforce a clear and transparent way of managing the city because it is consumed by corruption," he said. Olechowski, 55, the runner-up in the 2000 presidential election, polls around 25.2% support. He stresses his background as an economist at the World Bank and as deputy president of the National Bank of Poland. Olechowski also has local government experience. "I want to incite Varsovians - 60,000 unemployed people in the country's capital is alarming, and we have to do something about it," he said last week. He also stressed Warsaw's role as a future European Union capital city. Observers expect both Kaczyński and Olechowski to run for president in 2005. "If I do my job right, I will run in the presidential elections," Olechowski said. Political parties are also using second-tier cities as political staging grounds, with presidential candidates running for mayor including Self-Defense's Andrzej Lepper in Łódź, the Freedom Union's (UW) Władysław Frasyniuk in Wrocław, and the National Conservative Alliance's (SKL) Jan Maria Rokita in Kraków.