Syczewski and Cieslak remove themselves from the election running

Jan Syczewski, infamous for his controversial comment during a visit to Belarus when he described the Polish approach to economic restructuring as the sale of the national wealth for a tenth of its value, has resigned from the list of candidates running for the Senate from the Democratic Left Alliance - Labor Union (SLD-UP). Also removing himself from contention in the upcoming election is another controversial SLD-UP figure, Bronislaw Cieslak, who will no longer be seeking election to the Sejm. Cieslak has been accused by the public prosecutor of drunk driving. SLD spokesman Michal Tober said that the two men had had their candidacy approved by the party's governing body, and he stressed that they alone had made the decision to resign. Tober said the two men feared that the SLD-UP might be the target of negative campaigning if they were to stand for election. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1, Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) P.J.