1995 Polish presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Poland on 5 November 1995, with a second round on 19 November.^[1] The leader of Social Democracy, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa advanced to the second round. Kwaśniewski won the election with 52% of the vote in the run-off against 48% for Wałęsa.

1995 Polish presidential election

← 1990 5 November 1995 (first round) 19 November 1995 (second round) 2000 →
Turnout	64.70% (first round) 4.07pp 68.23% (second round) 14.83pp
Nominee Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lech Wałęsa Party SdRP Independent[a] Popular vote 9,704,439 9,058,176 Percentage 51.72% 48.28%
First round results by voivodeship Second round results by voivodeship
President before election Lech Wałęsa Independent Elected President Aleksander Kwaśniewski SdRP

Background

The two favorites throughout the course of the campaign were the leader of the post-communist SLD Aleksander Kwaśniewski and incumbent President Lech Wałęsa. Kwaśniewski ran a campaign of change and blamed the economic problems in Poland on the post-Solidarity right. His campaign slogan was "Let's choose the future" (Wybierzmy przyszłość). Political opponents challenged his candidacy, and produced evidence to show that he had lied about his education in registration documents and public presentations. There was also some mystery over his graduation from university. A law court confirmed that Kwaśniewski had lied about his record, but did not penalize him for it, judging the information irrelevant to the election result. Meanwhile, Wałęsa was a very unpopular President and some opinion polls even showed that he might not make it into the second round. He was challenged by other post-Solidarity politicians of all sides of the political spectrum ranging from liberal former Minister of Labour and Social Policy Jacek Kuroń to ultraconservative former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski. Rather than focusing on his presidency, he focused on his personal image as an everyday man turned international hero that was created for him while he was chairman of Solidarity. His campaign slogan was "There are many candidates but there is only one Lech Wałęsa" (Kandydatów jest wielu – Lech Wałęsa tylko jeden).^[2]

Candidates

• 
  Former Member of the Sejm Leszek Bubel (Independent), 38
• 
  Chairman of the National Bank Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (Independent), 43
• 
  Former Member of the Sejm Janusz Korwin-Mikke (Real Politics Union), 53
• 
  Former Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jacek Kuroń (Freedom Union), 61
• 
  Leader of Social Democracy Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland), 40
• 
  Agriculturer Andrzej Lepper (Self-Defense), 41
• 
  Former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski (Movement for the Republic), 65
• 
  Former Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak (Polish People's Party), 36
• 
  Satirist Jan Pietrzak (Independent), 58
• 
  Incumbent President Lech Wałęsa (Independent), 52
• 
  Senator Tadeusz Zieliński (Labour Union), 69

• Jurist Tadeusz Koźluk (Independent), 65
• Mechanic Kazimierz Piotrowicz (Independent), 51

Withdrawn

• 
  Former Chairman of the Supreme Audit Office Lech Kaczyński (Centre Agreement), 46
• 
  Former Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council Marek Markiewicz (The Republicans), 43
• 
  Journalist Leszek Moczulski (KPN), 65

• Businessman Bogdan Pawłowski (Independent), 50

Opinion polls

Poll publisher	Date of polling	Kwaśniewski SdRP	Wałęsa IN	Kuroń UW	Olszewski RdR	Pawlak PSL	Zieliński [pl] UP	Gronkiewicz-Waltz IN	Others and Undecideds
Election results	5 November 1995	35.11	33.11	9.22	6.86	4.31	3.53	2.76	5.1
Gazeta Wyborcza	1 November 1995	34	31	11	4	3	6	4	7
Wprost	24 October 1995	34	24	11	4	6	7	7	7
Gazeta Wyborcza	22 October 1995	27	23	8	3	4	5	5	25
Września Primary [pl]	15 October 1995	48.8	12.7	38.5
Gazeta Wyborcza	15 October 1995	27	22	7	3	4	6	8	23
Gazeta Wyborcza	9 October 1995	27	17	6	6	5	10	12	17
Gazeta Wyborcza	15 September 1995	26	12	8	2	4	11	12	24
Election called by Sejm Marshal Józef Zych (9 September 1995)[3]
Wprost	27 August 1995	23	14	10	2	3	11	12	25
Wprost	9 July 1995	26	11	12	<1	4	11	12	26
Wprost	6 June 1995	20	8	15	3	3	15	<1	36
Sources: Pienkos,[4] Dudek[2]

Results

Winners of the second round by powiats (1999 borders)

Kwaśniewski won with 52% of the vote in the run-off. 65% of voters voted in the first round and 68% in the second round.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland[5]	6,275,670	35.11	9,704,439	51.72
	Lech Wałęsa	Independent	5,917,328	33.11	9,058,176	48.28
	Jacek Kuroń	Freedom Union	1,646,946	9.22
	Jan Olszewski	Movement for the Republic	1,225,453	6.86
	Waldemar Pawlak	Polish People's Party	770,419	4.31
	Tadeusz Zieliński [pl]	Labor Union	631,432	3.53
	Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz	Independent	492,628	2.76
	Janusz Korwin-Mikke	Real Politics Union	428,969	2.40
	Andrzej Lepper	Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland	235,797	1.32
	Jan Pietrzak	Independent	201,033	1.12
	Tadeusz Koźluk [pl]	Independent	27,259	0.15
	Kazimierz Piotrowicz [pl]	Independent	12,591	0.07
	Leszek Bubel [pl]	Independent	6,825	0.04
Total			17,872,350	100.00	18,762,615	100.00
Valid votes			17,872,350	98.18	18,762,615	98.00
Invalid/blank votes			330,868	1.82	383,881	2.00
Total votes			18,203,218	100.00	19,146,496	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			28,136,332	64.70	28,062,409	68.23
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1491 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Dudek, Antoni (2023). Historia polityczna Polski 1989–2023 [Polish political history 1989-2023] (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar. ISBN 978-83-67450-66-9.
3. "Dz.U. 1995 nr 103 poz. 509".
4. Pienkos, Donald (1997-11-04). THE 1995 POLISH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: A STEP TOWARD NORMALCY. p. 407 / 13.
5. Szewczak, Natalia (2020-07-13). "75 kandydatów na prezydenta w ciągu 30 lat. Czy pamiętasz choć połowę tych nazwisk?". Retrieved 2024-04-20.

1. Although Wałęsa was officially an independent, his campaign was endorsed and staffed by BBWR and SND [pl].

• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 7 XI 1995 r., Dziennik Ustaw Nr 126, poz. 604;
• Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 7 XI 1995 r., Dz.U. Nr 131, poz. 636