Kaczyński, Lech Aleksander
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (lĕkh ä´lĕksän´dĕr kächĬn´skē), 1949–2010, Polish politician, grad. Warsaw Univ. (1971), Gdańsk Univ. (Ph.D., 1979). He and his identical twin, Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (yärô´släf), 1949–, Ph.D. Warsaw Univ., first gained public attention as child movie actors. Both were active in the prodemocracy movement of the 1970s, were members of Solidarity, and served as advisers to Lech Wałęsa. Lech Kaczyński served in the Polish senate (1989–91) and Sejm (lower house of parliament; 1991–93). Subsequently, he was head of the supreme auditing board (1992–95), justice minister (2000–2001), and mayor of Warsaw (2002–5). A founder (2001), with his brother, of the conservative Law and Justice party and its first chairman (2001–3), he was elected president of Poland in 2005, campaigning on a socially conservative platform. He was killed in a plane crash in Smolensk, Russia. Jarosław served (1991–93, 1997–2005) in the Sejm and was minister of state (1990–92) during Wałęsa's presidency. In 2003 he succeeded his brother as chairman of the Law and Justice party, and served as prime minister from 2006–7. After his brother's death, he was an unsuccessful candidate to succeed him.