President signs new electoral law; poll to take place on September 23rd

President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Monday signed the new Electoral Law, thus agreeing that parliamentary elections will take place on September 23rd. The legislation also contains new rules favoring smaller parties, and is considered to be disadvantageous to the Social Left Alliance (SLD). The president's decision has caused some surprise among politicians; since even before expressing his consent in an on-line television broadcast, he heavily criticized the new electoral law and those who had conceived it, accusing them of paying too much attention to poll results. Under the new electoral law the SLD, which according to the latest polls enjoys 43% of popular support, would have 231 out of 460 representatives, instead of the 266 it has under the old law. Meanwhile, the Freedom Union (UW), with 5% support, would see the number of its representatives rise from two to 12. According to Ryszard Wawryniewicz from the Christian National Union (ZChN), Kwasniewski has ambitions to actively influence the political scene, and the outright victory of the SLD is not his desired intention. (Zycie, p.1), M.T.