Bogdan Borusewicz

Bogdan Borusewicz
Acting President of Poland
In office 8 July 2010 hours
Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Bronisław Komorowski (Acting)
Succeeded by	Grzegorz Schetyna (Acting)
Marshal of the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 October 2005
Deputy	Ryszard Legutko Maciej Płażyński Krzysztof Putra Marek Ziółkowski Krystyna Bochenek Zbigniew Romaszewski
Preceded by	Longin Pastusiak
Personal details
Born	(1949-01-11) 11 January 1949 Lidzbark Warmiński, Poland
Political party	Independent (2005–present) Civic Platform caucus (2007–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Union (1990–1994) Freedom Union (1994–2005) Law and Justice caucus (2005–2007)
Spouse	Alina Pieńkowska (Deceased)
Alma mater	John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Profession	Historian

Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, (Polish pronunciation: [ˈbɔɡdan ˈmʲixaw bɔruˈsɛvʲitʂ], born January 11, 1949 in Lidzbark Warmiński, Poland) is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since October 20, 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm) for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.

Following the death of President Lech Kaczyński Borusewicz is currently the first person in the line of presidential succession after Acting President and Sejm Marshal Grzegorz Schetyna.

Borusewicz also briefly served as the Acting President of Poland on July 8, 2010 between Komorowski, who was elected President, resignation from Sejm (and thus Speakership) and election of the new Speaker (and Acting President) Grzegorz Schetyna.

Democratic opposition in communist Poland

When still a secondary school student of School of Fine Arts in Gdynia, he was arrested in May 1968 during the Polish 1968 political crisis on charges of printing and distributing opposition fliers.

In 1975, he graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin in the field of history. During the 1970s he took part in a campaign of support for striking workers in Radom, and became a part of the Workers' Defence Committee. In the years 1977-1978 he was a co-organiser of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast.

He was a principal organiser of the August, 1980 strike in the Gdańsk Shipyard which led to the formation of the Solidarity trade union, and a co-author of the strikers postulates. He took part in the formation of the Solidarity free trade union.

After the institution of martial law by the regime on December 13, 1981, he spent more than four years hiding from the authorities and organising the underground structures of the then-outlawed Solidarity trade union. Between 1984 and 1986, a member of the Provisional Solidarity Coordination Committee and then Provisional Solidarity Trade Union Council. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1986, released under an amnesty in 1988. He supported the May and August strikes in the Gdańsk Shipyard in that year.

In Democratic Poland

Deputy chairman of the Solidarity trade union movement 1990-1991. Was one of the candidates for its chairmanship in February 1991.

From 1991 to 2001 a member of parliament (Sejm). In the first term (1991-1993), the leader of the Solidarity party, and the chairman of the commission studying the consequences of the Martial Law period. He was opposed to the vote of no confidence for the Suchocka government (against the position of the Solidarity trade union), and after its fall left Solidarity. In the following elections he was elected as a member of the Unia Demokratyczna party, which in 1994 became the Unia Wolności (UW). He was the chairman of the special forces parliamentary committee. During the third term (1997-2000) in the Buzek government, he was the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration (in charge of the police force). He resigned when the UW left the government coalition in 2000. He was also a member of a variety of other parliamentary commissions.

He was not elected again in 2001. from October 2001 he was a member of the board of management of Pomorze province, and was a candidate for the presidency of Gdańsk (obtaining 16.32% of votes). He did not join the Democratic Party (organised by UW members as a broader grouping), being opposed to the inclusion of politicians associated with the postcommunist SLD party.

Senator and Speaker

He was chosen a senator in the 2005 parliamentary election, running as an independent but supported by both the Law and Justice(PiS) and Citizens Platform (PO) parties. He was chosen as the Marshal (Speaker) of the Senate with their support. During first term he was caucused with PiS and after 2007 election, with PO.

He came to the defence of Lech Walesa when the IPN published a book asserting to have proof of Walesa's collaboration with Communist Poland's former Secret Police (SB) in early 70's.

Acting President

Following Acting President, and President-elect Bronisław Komorowski resignation from Sejm (and thus Speakership) on July 8, 2010, Borusewicz became Acting President of Poland until the election of the new Speaker of Sejm Grzegorz Schetyna. Borusewicz was the first Senate Speaker to became a temporary head of state and the shortest-serving Polish head of state since 1918. Also, he was already the second person to be or act as President since President Lech Kaczyński's death in April 2010.

Called by the Polish media "The President for One Day", Borusewicz said, "at least I'll end up as a question in quizes".

External links

• Polish senate webpage
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