Waldemar Pawlak

Waldemar Pawlak (Member of the Polish Parliament

Waldemar Pawlak was born 5 September 1959. He is a Polish politician and twice served as Prime Minister of Poland, briefly in 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995. From November 2007 to November 2012 he served as Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy. Waldemar Pawlak is the only person who held the office of Prime Minister twice during the Third Republic (i.e. since 1989), and he remains Poland's youngest Prime Minister to date.

Political Career

Waldemar Pawlak’s first premiership was the briefest government during this period, lasting only 33 days, from 5 June - 7 July 1992. After the downfall of Jan Olszewski's cabinet, Pawlak, a leader of the Agrarian Polish People's Party, was named the new Prime Minister by President Lech Wałęsa with the mission to form a new coalition government including agrarians, Christian democrats and liberals. However, the Pawlak government failed to gain support from the Sejm majority and failed in a vote of confidence. Pawlak resigned, and the president replaced him with Hanna Suchocka, who won majority support. Because the cabinet did not receive support from the Sejm, Pawlak had no official ministers at this time, only temporary chiefs of executive branches. Pawlak's comeback began in 2005 when he became PSL leader again. In the liberal Civic Platform (PO)-PSL government, formed after the 2007 parliamentary election, Pawlak became deputy prime minister and minister of economy under Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Although PSL remained the smallest party represented in the Sejm, Pawlak is often cited as having achieved a major political victory. During his time in the party chair his party enjoyed better electoral results, the elimination of major competition among agrarian voters from the also agrarian dominated party (Samoobrona), and the resumption of major influence in rural areas. Additionally, PSL was put in charge of three cabinet posts in the Tusk government. (Without the PSL votes, the PO would not have a Sejm majority, even though it easily accounts for the biggest political group in the sitting parliament.) On 21 April 2010, PSL announced that Pawlak would be the party's official candidate for the 2010 presidential election. He received only 1.75% of the vote and didn't get into the second round.

Education

Waldemar Pawlak is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology. While he was a student and during martial law in 1981 he actively participated in strikes. After graduation in 1984 he became a computer teacher in Kamionka.