Via the AP: Poland’s Walesa Quits Solidarity Union

Walesa also said he plans to stay away from events marking the 26th anniversary of Solidarity’s founding on Aug. 31 in part because he disapproves of the union’s support for Poland’s new conservative leaders.

The 62-year-old Nobel Peace laureate said he left after Solidarity members ignored his criticism of their support for the Law and Justice Party and its leaders, twin brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, during last fall’s election campaign.

Lech Kaczynski won the presidency and Jaroslaw is now prime minister.

“When my arguments were not reaching them, I gave instructions to terminate my membership,” Walesa said. “It is not over the Kaczynskis, but that was the last straw.”

“I am not paying my fees any more,” he added.

Law and Justice is Euroskeptic and nationalistic in its orientation, and has faced criticism for its alliance with the isolationist Samoobrona Party (or Self Defense) as well as what has been seen both inside and outside of Poland as taking a harsh, intolerant populist tone in its politics.

The idea of Solidarity sans Walesa is an extraordinary one.

Monster and Critics has the following story on some recent Polish politics: Poland will not stray from democracy, premier vows. At a minimum, that isn’t the kind of headline that screams healthy politics.

And I am guessing that the following isn’t what drove Lech to leave:

Once labelled by the media as the worst-dressed party leader in Poland, Kaczynski has undergone a startling image makeover since becoming prime minister.

Worn-out shoes and too-tight clothing has given way to elegantly- tailored dark suits and fancy footwear.

He has even neatly tamed an unruly lock of hair, which regularly drew media attention by famously standing on end.

Not all observers are embracing the premier’s new look, however. Some pundits in Warsaw complain it is even more difficult now to tell him apart from his identical twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski.

h/t: The Florida Masochist