Alexander Kwaśniewski

Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. During communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s. After the fall of communism he became a leader of the left-wing Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland, successor to the former ruling Polish United Workers Party, and a co-founder of the Democratic Left Alliance.

In an often bitter campaign, Kwaśniewski won the presidential election on 5 November 1995, collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the run-off, against 48.3 percent for the incumbent, Lech Wałęsa, the former Solidarity leader. He was re-elected to a second and final term as president in 2000 in a decisive first-round victory. His term ended on 23 December 2005, when he handed over power to his elected successor, conservative Lech Kaczyński.