SLD leaders reluctant to take helm as election loss seems inevitable

"The best candidate would be Wojciech Olejniczak, but he does not want to run," Economy Minister Jacek Piechota said yesterday. One of the party members believes that Olejniczak is afraid of a false start. "It is pretty obvious that the nearest elections will not be a success for us. So the new leader may be only temporary and might be held responsible for the possible defeat in the elections," he said. The two most probable candidates for the party's new leader are Jacek Piechota and Marek Dyduch. Piechota agreed to run because, as he claimed, he could not accept "the populist turn of the left wing." However, he admitted also that "the SLD needs very serious changes and the leadership should be taken over by someone younger than me." (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 5) A.F.