Polish presidential election, 1990

Presidential elections were held in Poland on Sunday November 25 (first round), and Sunday December 9, 1990 (second round). 60.6% of citizens cast their votes during the first round, 98.5% of those were valid. 53.4% of citizens cast their vote during the second round, 97.7% of those were valid.

These were the first direct presidential elections in the history of Poland. Before World War II president was elected by Sejm, and after WW2 this office was abolished in 1952.

The main favourites were the leader of Solidarity movement Lech Wałęsa and the first non-communist Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Unexpectedly, Wałęsa's challenger in the 2nd round was Canadian businessman of Polish origin Stanisław Tymiński. Eventually, he lost this round, then tried to establish a new political party, but very quickly disappeared from the political scene in Poland.

1st round => turn-out: 60,6% ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Candidate Party Votes % ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lech Wałęsa NSZZ "Solidarność" 6,569,889 39.96 Stanisław Tymiński 3,797,605 23.10 Tadeusz Mazowiecki 2,973,364 18.08 Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz SdRP 1,514,025 9.21 Roman Bartoszcze PSL 1,176,175 7.15 Leszek Moczulski KPN 411,516 2.50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 16,442,574 100.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd round => turn-out: 53,4% ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Candidate Party Votes % ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lech Wałęsa NSZZ "Solidarność" 10,622,696 74.25 Stanisław Tymiński 3,683,098 25.75 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 14,305,794 100.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

* "Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 26 XI 1990 r.", Dziennik Ustaw. Nr 83, poz. 483;
* "Obwieszczenie PKW z dn. 10 XII 1990 r.", Dz.U. Nr 85, poz. 499