receiving praises by supporters after his presidential victory in 1995 In an often bitter campaign, Kwaśniewski won the
presidential election in 1995, collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the
run-off, against 48.3 percent for the incumbent,
Lech Wałęsa, the former
Solidarity leader. Kwaśniewski's campaign slogans were "Let's choose the future" (
Wybierzmy przyszłość) and "Poland for all" (
Wspólna Polska). Political opponents disputed his victory and produced evidence to show that he had lied about his education in registration documents and public presentations. There was also some mystery over his graduation from university. A law court confirmed that Kwaśniewski had lied about his record—and this did not come to light until after the election—but did not penalise him for it. Kwaśniewski took the presidential
oath of office on 23 December 1995. Later the same day, he was sworn in as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the Warszawa First Fighter Wing, in
Mińsk Mazowiecki. Kwaśniewski's greatest achievement was his ability to enact a new
Constitution of Poland to replace the modified Communist-era document then still in use. Although the old constitution had been pruned of its Communist and
Stalinist character, the failure to create a new constitution had been a criticism often levelled at Wałęsa. Kwaśniewski actively campaigned for its approval in the subsequent referendum, and he signed it into law on 16 July 1997. He took an active part in the efforts to secure Polish membership of
NATO. in Moscow, October 2001 He headed Poland's delegation at the 1997 Madrid summit, where Poland, the
Czech Republic, and
Hungary were promised membership; and the Washington summit, where on 26 February 1999, during the
Kosovo conflict, which he supported, he signed the instruments ratifying Poland's membership of NATO. He also took an active part in promoting further enlargement of the alliance, speaking out in favor of membership for a further seven states and the open-door policy that leaves open the option of further members. He was an author of the 2002 Riga Initiative, a forum for cooperation between Central European states, aimed towards further enlargement of NATO and the European Union. To date, this is the only time since the end of Communism that a presidential election has been decided in a single round. Following the
11 September 2001 attacks, Kwaśniewski organized an international conference in Warsaw, with the participation of leaders from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe to strengthen regional activities in fighting international terrorism. Under Kwaśniewski's leadership, Poland became a strong ally of the United States in the
war on terror and
contributed troops in the
Iraq War, a move that was highly controversial in Poland and Europe. Poland was in charge of a sector of Iraq after the removal of
Saddam Hussein. Polish membership of the
European Union became a reality on 1 May 2004, during Kwaśniewski's second term. Both he and his wife
Jolanta had campaigned for approval of the EU accession treaty in June 2003. He strongly supported including mention of Europe's Christian roots into the
European Constitution. Thanks to his close relations with
Leonid Kuchma, in late 2004 he became a mediator in a political conflict in Ukraine – the
Orange Revolution, and according to some commentators, he played the major role in its peaceful solution. in Washington, D.C., October 2005 After the release of the
Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture in December 2014, Kwaśniewski admitted that he had agreed in 2003 to host a secret
CIA black site in Poland, but that activities were to be carried out in accordance to Polish law. He said that a U.S. draft memorandum had stated that "people held in Poland are to be treated as prisoners of war and will be afforded all the rights they are entitled to", but due to time constraints, the U.S. had not signed the memorandum. The U.S. had conducted activities in great secrecy at
the site.
Controversial pardons In December 2005, when his presidency was coming to an end, he granted
clemency for a post-Communist deputy minister of Justice Zbigniew Sobotka, who had been sentenced for 3.5 years of prison for revealing a state secret (effectively, he warned gangsters about an operation against them). Kwaśniewski changed the prison sentence to
probation. Another case of Kwaśniewski's controversial granting of
pardons was the
Peter Vogel case. The story goes back to 1971 when Piotr Filipczyński, a.k.a. Peter Vogel was sentenced to 25 years in jail for a brutal murder (shortened to 15 years in 1979). Surprisingly enough, in 1983 (during
martial law in Poland) he was granted a passport and allowed to leave the country. He returned in 1990 soon earning the nickname "the accountant of the Left" as a former Swiss banker who took care of more than thirty accounts of Polish
social democrats. Despite an arrest warrant issued in 1987, Vogel moved freely in Poland and was eventually arrested in 1998 in Switzerland. After Vogel's extradition to Poland, in 1999 Kwaśniewski initiated the procedure of granting him amnesty. In December 2005 (a few days before leaving his office) Kwaśniewski pardoned Vogel despite the negative opinion of the procurer.
Rywingate Kwaśniewski refused in 2003 to face a special parliamentary commission, which was set up to reveal all circumstances linked with
Rywingate. Kwaśniewski argued, that the constitution did not allow parliamentary commissions to investigate the president, and there were no clear law opinions. The commission decided eventually not to summon Kwaśniewski. For a second time Kwaśniewski refused as a witness to face the commission investigating the privatization of
Orlen petrol concern, in March 2005. He argued that the actions of commission members, being in opposition to the leftist government supported by him, were directed against him. He sought to undermine the commission by releasing considerable amounts of information to journalists while only belatedly making it available to the commission members.
Member of secret police allegations In 2007, the
Institute of National Remembrance revealed that Kwaśniewski was registered during communist times as an agent "Alek" of the secret police, the Security Service (
Służba Bezpieczeństwa – SB), from 1983 to 1989. Kwaśniewski himself denied having been an agent in a special statement, demanded from politicians by Polish law, and a court confirmed his statement. ==Post-presidency==