WARSAW: Voters can be merciless judges. Ten years after leading Poland to freedom, Lech Walesa received less than 1% of the vote in Sunday’s presidential elections, in which President Aleksander Kwasniewski romped to a second term in office. Like Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia, Walesa is now a prophet without honor - indeed, invisible - in his own country. In the years to come, both Walesa and Gorbachev may yet be recognized for the gifts of liberty they delivered. For now, the verdict of voters is for complacency.
WARSAW: Voters can be merciless judges. Ten years after leading Poland to freedom, Lech Walesa received less than 1% of the vote in Sunday’s presidential elections, in which President Aleksander Kwasniewski romped to a second term in office. Like Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia, Walesa is now a prophet without honor - indeed, invisible - in his own country. In the years to come, both Walesa and Gorbachev may yet be recognized for the gifts of liberty they delivered. For now, the verdict of voters is for complacency.