Warsaw gets first female mayor

2006-11-27 12:35

Warsaw - Poland's capital was set to get its first woman mayor, liberal Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, after voters in weekend municipal elections dealt a symbolic blow to the conservative government of identical twins Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, final results showed on Monday.

The country's national electoral commission gave the 54-year-old banker, who heads Poland's central bank and is vice-president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BERD), 53.18% of the vote against 46.82% for rival Kazimierz Marcinkiewicw.

Gronkiewicw-Waltz ran in Sunday's closely-fought second round of countrywide mayoral elections on behalf of the liberal Civic Platform (PO), against the candidate from the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice (PiS) party, who is currently acting mayor.

"With this vote, Warsaw has given a red card to PiS," Gronkiewicz-Waltz said in a speech.

"And thanks to women," she said, noting she was set to become the city's first-ever female mayor.

The job is viewed as the most prestigious in the country, and PiS had made it a point of honour to keep it.

Lech Kaczynski was mayor of Warsaw until he was elected president of Poland at the end of last year, while his brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski is prime minister.

The local elections, involving some 30 million voters, have been the first ballot box test for Poland's conservatives since the Kaczynskis helped sweep a corruption-tainted left-wing government from power in parliamentary elections in September 2005.

- AFP