The
Polish Round Table Agreement, signed in April 1989 between the representatives of the ruling Communist
PZPR and the opposition
Solidarity trade union, did not initially provide for a government led by Solidarity. Only around 35% of the
Sejm would be up for free election alongside the entire
Senate, giving the Communist-dominated
PRON alliance a seemingly guaranteed majority to form a government. However, in the resulting
elections in June, Solidarity-backed candidates won every seat up for election in the Sejm and all but one seat in the Senate. This victory accelerated the dissolution of the Communist coalition. In a July article entitled "Your President, Our Prime Minister," leading Solidarity member
Adam Michnik proposed a
grand coalition between Solidarity and reformist elements in the regime, in exchange for the former's support for the election of Communist leader
Wojciech Jaruzelski as
President. Jaruzelski was
elected president on 19 July, and designated
Interior Minister Gen.
Czesław Kiszczak to lead the government, with the intention of giving Solidarity a few token positions. However, Solidarity leader
Lech Wałęsa entered into negotiations with the PZPR's longtime satellite parties, the
Democratic Party and
United People's Party, many of whose members were in debt to Solidarity for endorsing them in the second election round. On 17 August 1989, Wałęsa,
Roman Malinowski and announced that Solidarity had formed a coalition with the ZSL and SD, commanding a majority in the Sejm. This denied Kiszczak the chance to form a government, and he resigned. President Jaruzelski then agreed to appoint a Solidarity member as Prime Minister. Wałęsa proposed
Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
Bronisław Geremek and
Jacek Kuroń as potential candidates, and the coalition partners agreed on the first of the three. Jaruzelski designed Mazowiecki as Prime Minister on 19 August, and the latter was elected by the Sejm on 24 August. The Cabinet was confirmed on 12 September by 402 votes in favor to none against, with 13 abstentions. It was the first government anywhere in Eastern Europe since 1948 with a non-Communist majority, and its appointment was a milestone in the
Fall of Communism elsewhere in the region. ==Cabinet==