Sejm fails to pick successor to Zielinski as Citizen's Rights Ombudsman

May Day clashes between left and right groups kept to a minimum this year May Day events organized by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) are considered by many to be the most peaceful in recent years. Violent exchanges between rightist youth leagues and former communists were only sporadic and no major injuries were reported. Instead, this year's SLD rallies were sort of picnics, with alcoholic refreshments and barbecues, where successive speakers denounced the failures of the center-right Freedom Union (UW) and Solidarity Election Action (AWS) government. One of the most colorful demonstrations was staged by members of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) who marched through the Warsaw high-street waving the Soviet and Cuban flags while wearing T-shirts with a portrait of the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. Among the places where the demonstrations were disrupted is Gdansk where anarchists and skinheads sprayed red paint and attempted to lynch SLD sympathizers. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 3) S.M. Sejm has again failed to select the next Citizens' Rights Ombudsman to replace Adam Zielinski whose tenure expires on May 8. During a vote on Friday a nominee of the ruling Solidarity Election Action (AWS) Andrzej Sikora failed to attract the required number of votes. Some AWS members either abstained or voted against the recommendations of their party leadership. The Sejm speaker Maciej Plazynski is expected to invite parties to nominate candidates for Ombudsman and thereafter it will be put to a vote in Sejm. (Rzeczpospolita, Apr. 29-May 1, page A2) S.M.