Kaczyński, Lech

Kaczyński, Lech (lekh kächin'skē) [key], 1949–, Polish politician, grad. Warsaw Univ., Gdańsk Univ. (Ph.D., 1976). He and his identical twin, Jarosław, first gained public attention as child movie actors. Both were active in the prodemocracy movement of the 1970s and were members of Solidarity. A longtime advisor to Lech Wałęsa, Lech Kaczyński served in the Polish senate (1989–91) and parliament (1991–93). Subsequently, he was head of the supreme auditing board (1992–95), justice minister (2000–2001), and mayor of Warsaw (2002–5). A founder (2002), with his brother, of the conservative Law and Justice party, he was elected president of Poland in 2005, campaigning on a socially conservative platform.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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