Poland goes conservative.

Warsaw -- Two activists in the pro-democracy Solidarity movement that overthrew communist rule in Poland in 1989 faced off in a presidential run-off as Polish voters made a swing to Catholic conservatism.

The two leaders had earlier crushed the ex-communists and socialists (in power since 1989) in general elections held in early October. Law and Justice took 27 percent of the vote, while Civic Platform took 24 percent. The ousted governing Democratic Left Alliance received only 11 percent, down from 41 percent in 2001.

In the voting for president in late October, Lech Kaczynski, the "tough-on-crime" Warsaw mayor, running his Law and Justice platform combining traditional Catholic values with a promise to fight corruption while supporting the welfare state, gained the victory with over 54 percent of the vote. His opponent, Donald Tusk, captured 45 percent of the vote, running on a free-market, fiscal reform and liberal economic policies platform. The two opponents reflect a wider European debate on how far to go in embracing the free market system and how much welfare an E.U. country can afford (Nat. Post, Sept. 26, 2005).

President-elect Kaczynski has expressed confidence that his group, although offering a contrasting economic program for Poland, can work with Tusk's Civic Platform group (Various dispatches).