World Notes Poland

It was hardly surprising that, facing a dauntingly complex ballot, almost 57% of the electorate failed to vote last week in Poland's first free parliamentary elections since World War II. Even more frustrated by the country's failure to achieve postcommunist prosperity, those who did go to the polls chose no clear victor and no clear course for the nation: 29 parties will be represented in Poland's 460-seat lower house, and none will have more than 62 seats.

With little prospect that any coalition can form a durable majority, President Lech Walesa proposed doubling his duties by becoming his own Prime Minister. Though such an arrangement seemed to flout the spirit of Poland's constitution, no one else appeared eager to take on the job of leading the country's painful reconstruction. Walesa's bold but troubling suggestion, wisecracked one critic, at least offered the possibility of a government "able to count on the full loyalty of the President." But whoever winds up with the job has little hope of finding a painless route to economic reform.