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Poland The Round Table Agreement
When the government convened round table talks with the
opposition in early 1989, it was prepared to make certain
concessions, including the legalization of Solidarity. It
had no
intention, however, of granting Solidarity the status of
an equal
partner. The fifty-seven negotiators at the talks included
representatives from the ruling PZPR, Solidarity, and
various
PZPR-sanctioned quasi-parties and mass organizations, such
as the
United Peasant Party, the Democratic Party, the Christian
Social
Union, the Association of Polish Catholics, and the
All-Polish
Alliance of Trade Unions
(see PZPR and Successor Parties
, this
ch.). The talks were organized into three working groups,
which
examined the economy, social policy, and the status of
trade
unions. A spirit of cooperation and compromise
characterized the
two-month negotiations.
The document signed by the participants on April 6,
1989,
laid the groundwork for a pluralistic society that in
theory
would enjoy freedom of association, freedom of speech, an
independent judiciary, and independent trade unions. The
Round
Table Agreement legalized Solidarity as a labor union;
restored
the pre-World War II Senate as the upper house of
parliament and
granted it veto powers over the decisions of the Sejm;
promised
partially free Sejm elections; replaced the State Council
with
the new executive office of president of Poland; and
called for
the creation of an independent judiciary of tenured judges
appointed by the president from a list submitted by the
parliament
(see Government Structure
, this ch.).
Although election to the Senate was to be completely
free and
open, the PZPR and its traditionally subservient partners,
the
United Peasant Party and the Democratic Party, were
assured of 60
percent of the seats in the 460-member Sejm; and religious
organizations long associated with the regime were
promised 5
percent of the seats. The remaining 161 seats were open to
opposition and independent candidates who had obtained at
least
3,000 nominating signatures. The agreement allowed a
national
slate of incumbents, including Prime Minister Mieczyslaw
Rakowski, to run unopposed and be reelected with a simple
majority of the ballots cast. But because voters exercised
their
option not to endorse candidates and crossed names off the
ballot, only two of thirty-five unopposed national
candidates
received a majority. At the same time, only three of the
government's candidates for contested seats received 50
percent
of the votes cast. Consequently, a second round of voting
was
necessary to fill the seats originally reserved for the
PZPR
coalition.
With only days to organize, Solidarity waged an intense
and
effective national campaign. A network of ad hoc citizens'
committees posted lists of Solidarity candidates,
mobilized
supporters, and in June executed an electoral coup.
Solidarity
candidates won all 161 Sejm seats open to them and
ninety-nine of
100 seats in the Senate. This impressive electoral
performance
soon convinced the PZPR-allied parties in the Sejm to side
with
Solidarity and to form the first postcommunist coalition
government in Eastern Europe.
The erosion of the old PZPR-led coalition was evident
in the
July 19 parliamentary voting for the new office of
president of
Poland. Thirty-one members of the coalition refused to
support
General Jaruzelski, the unopposed candidate for the post.
The
Solidarity leadership, however, believed that Jaruzelski
was the
best candidate for the presidency. Seemingly, he could
best
ensure that the PZPR would honor the concessions it had
made in
the Round Table Agreement. Also, he was the candidate
least
likely to alarm Moscow. Through careful polling,
Solidarity was
able to engineer a one-vote margin of victory for
Jaruzelski.
Data as of October 1992
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