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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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073189
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07318900.016
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 30World NotesPOLANDThe General Squeaks By
Party stewards counted the votes once, then tallied them three
more times. When the result was finally announced to the 544
Deputies in the hushed Parliament last week, the reason for all the
counting became clear. General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the leader of
Poland's Communist Party, had won the country's presidency with
just a single vote to spare.
As the nation's first elected President since 1952, Jaruzelski
called on the contingent of opposition Solidarity Deputies to share
responsibility by joining the Communist Party in a coalition
government. But first he must get his own allies in line. Without
a rival candidate, Jaruzelski required only a simple majority to
be elected, a sure thing if all 299 Deputies belonging to the
Communist coalition threw their weight behind him. The final count
showed that eleven Communist alliance Deputies had broken ranks and
that the general owed his election to maneuvering by a handful of
Solidarity deputies.