Jarosław Kaczyński

Jarosław Kaczyński
Prime Minister of Poland 13th Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Poland
In office 14 July 2006 – 16 November 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński
Vice PM	Ludwik Dorn, Zyta Gilowska, Przemysław Gosiewski, Andrzej Lepper, Roman Giertych
Preceded by	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Succeeded by	Donald Tusk
Chief of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
In office 22 December 1990 – 31 October 1991
President	Lech Wałęsa
Preceded by	Michał Janiszewski
Succeeded by	Janusz Ziółkowski
Acting Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
In office 22 September 2006 – 16 October 2006
President	Lech Kaczyński
Prime Minister	Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded by	Andrzej Lepper
Succeeded by	Andrzej Lepper
Acting Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
In office 9 July 2007 – 31 July 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński
Prime Minister	Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded by	Andrzej Lepper
Succeeded by	Wojciech Mojzesowicz
Acting Minister of Sport and Tourism
In office 9 July 2007 – 13 July 2007
President	Lech Kaczyński
Prime Minister	Jarosław Kaczyński
Preceded by	Tomasz Lipiec
Succeeded by	Elżbieta Jakubiak
Leader of the Law and Justice Party
Incumbent
Assumed office  13 June 2001
Born	18 June 1949 (1949-06-18) (age 61) Warsaw, People's Republic of Poland
Political party	Law and Justice
Spouse(s)	Never married
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Signature

Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (Polish pronunciation: [jaˈrɔswaf kaˈtʂɨɲskʲi]  ( listen); (born 18 June 1949) is a conservative Polish politician who served as Prime Minister from July 2006 to November 2007. He is presently the chairman of the Law and Justice party, which he co-founded in 2002.

He has a Doctor of Law degree. He is the identical twin brother of the late Polish president Lech Kaczyński. After the 2007 electoral defeat of PiS, Kaczyński stepped down from office as Prime Minister following the first meeting of the new Sejm.^[2]

He ran against Bronisław Komorowski in the Polish presidential election on 20 June 2010^[3]. Kaczyński announced his candidacy on 26 April 2010, and said he would take the place of his recently deceased brother.^[4][5] He received 36.46% of votes in the first round, while acting president Bronisław Komorowski received 41.54%. In the second round, against Komorowski, he was defeated--receiving 46.99% of the votes, while Komorowski received 53.01% and won.

Early career

Jarosław Kaczyński was a graduate of law and administration of Warsaw University, which in 1976 awarded him a PhD in Law.

In the 1980s, he became a member of the Solidarity trade union. Kaczyński was the executive editor of the Tygodnik Solidarność weekly in 1989–91.

In 1991, he created the centrist Christian Democratic Porozumienie Centrum party and later became its chairman, remaining in the role until 1998. In the years 1991–3 and 1997–2005 Kaczyński was a member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm).

2005 elections

Jarosław Kaczyński and George W. Bush

Kaczyński was the Law and Justice prime ministerial candidate in the September 2005 Polish parliamentary election.^[6] However, when the party emerged as winner of the election, he pledged that he would not take the position, expecting that his nomination would reduce the chances of his brother Lech Kaczyński, who was a candidate for the October presidential election.

Kaczyński was the architect of the coalition with the left wing populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Samoobrona) and the conservative Christian League of Polish Families party. Party-member Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed Prime Minister.

In the succeeding months, he was described as a frontbench MP and the leader of his party. Many also described Kaczyński as Poland's most influential politician. He was said to have enormous influence on the Prime Minister's decision-making process.

Prime minister

Following reports of a rift between Kaczyński and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the latter tendered his resignation on 7 July 2006, and Kaczyński was appointed Prime Minister by the President Lech Kaczyński on 10 July, and officially sworn in on 14 July, following the formation of cabinet and a confidence vote in the Sejm.^[7][8][9] During Lech Kaczyński's election campaign in 2005, he had pledged that should he win, Jarosław would not become Prime Minister.^[10] During his Prime-Ministership, Kaczyński supported a bill banning discussion or promotion of homosexuality in schools, including in sex education, stating that "promoting a homosexual lifestyle to young people in school as an alternative to normal life goes too far. These kinds of initiatives have to be stopped".^[11]

2007 elections

Despite gaining votes, Law and Justice lost the parliamentary election on 21 October 2007, finishing a distant second behind Christian-democratic and conservative liberal Civic Platform. Kaczyński was succeeded as Prime Minister by Donald Tusk, remaining chairman of Law and Justice and becoming leader of the opposition.

Presidential candidacy

Following the death of Lech Kaczyński in a plane crash in Russia, Jarosław announced that he would run for President against Bronisław Komorowski in the upcoming elections.^[12] He was running against Bronisław Komorowski in the presidential election, held on 20 June 2010^[3]. Kaczyński announced his candidacy on 26 April 2010, and said he would take the place of his recently deceased brother.^[13][14] Some analysts have said Kaczyński has softened his image during the campaign, in order to win centrist voters.^[15] On 11 May 2010, he made a televised address to Russia, greeting his 'Russian friends' and praising the millions of Russians who died fighting in World War Two.^[16] He got 36.46% of the votes in the first round, while acting president Bronisław Komorowski got 41.54%. In the second round, against Komorowski, he was defeated--he got 46.99% of the votes, and Komorowski got 53.01%, which made him the winner.

Personal life

Kaczyński is the identical twin brother of the late Polish President Lech Kaczyński. Jarosław and Lech were born in Warsaw.^[17] The Kaczyński brothers are sons of Rajmund (an engineer who served as a soldier of the Armia Krajowa in World War II and a veteran of the Warsaw Uprising) and Jadwiga (a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences). On 11 May 2010, Jarosław Kaczyński said a Russian man saved his grandparents' lives in World War Two.^[16]

As children, Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński starred in the 1962 Polish film The Two Who Stole the Moon (Polish: O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc), based on a popular children's story by Kornel Makuszyński.^[18]

Kaczyński is unmarried, but allegedly has been romantically linked to one of his employees, the Polish MP Jolanta Szczypińska.^[19][20] He lived with his ailing mother until her hospitalization.^[3] In 2007, he said his only sleeping partner was Alik, his cat.^[21] In 2006 Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on secret service files which document a discussion on his sexuality. In the files, a former communist SB officer speculated on Kaczyński's sexual orientation.^[22] Relations between Lech Wałęsa and Kaczyński have for many years been strained since Wałęsa told a joke about 'two brothers who arrive at a party - one with his wife and one with his "husband"'. He was alluding to Jarosław Kaczyński having a male sexual partner.^[23][22] Kaczyński resides in Komorów near Warsaw.

See also

• Porozumienie Centrum
• Prawo i Sprawiedliwość

References

External links

• (Polish) Official Website of Jarosław Kaczyński
• (Polish) Portret Postkomunizmu

Chiefs of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Michał Janiszewski · Jarosław Kaczyński · Janusz Ziółkowski · Tomasz Kwiatkowski · Stanisław Iwanicki · Danuta Waniek · Danuta Hübner · Ryszard Kalisz · Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz · Edward Szymański · Andrzej Urbański · Robert Draba · Aleksander Szczygło · Robert Draba · Anna Fotyga · Piotr Kownacki · Piotr Kownacki · Władysław Stasiak · Jacek Michałowski · Jacek Michałowski Italics indicate acting Chiefs

Ministers of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland Marek Belka • Tomasz Lipiec • Jarosław Kaczyński (acting) • Elżbieta Jakubiak • Mirosław Drzewiecki • Adam Giersz

previous ←   Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2010 Winner Bronisław Komorowski Lost in runoff Jarosław Kaczyński Other candidates Marek Jurek · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Andrzej Lepper · Kornel Morawiecki · Grzegorz Napieralski · Andrzej Olechowski · Waldemar Pawlak · Bogusław Ziętek Rejected from race Zdzisław Jankowski · Gabriel Janowski · Dariusz Kosiur · Bartłomiej Kurzeja · Krzysztof Mazurski · Paweł Pietrzyk · Roman Sklepowicz · Paweł Soroka · Bogdan Szpryngiel · Ludwik Wasiak · Józef Wójcik · Waldemar Urbanowski