There were six candidates who successfully managed to register - Solidarity chairman Lech Wałęsa, Canadian entrepreneur Stanisław Tymiński, Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Members of the Sejm Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Roman Bartoszcze, and anti-communist oppositionist Leszek Moczulski.

Stanisław Tymiński came second in a large upset unforeseen by every political force in the country, and, being seen by other candidates as a liar and opportunist, managed to unite both the postcommunist and Solidarity establishments against him.

Liberal and left-leaning[6] members like Bronisław Geremek, Jacek Kuroń, Władysław Frasyniuk or Adam Michnik wanted to create a grand coalition with reformist wing of PZPR.

However, Wałęsa did not change his decision, and on 24 August, ZSL and SD rejected Kiszczak, instead throwing their support behind Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who formed a Solidarity-ZSL-SD coalition.

In his pursuit of becoming Poland's strongman president during the transition to democracy, Wałesa set several requirements - most importantly that the Prime Minister be younger and less politically experienced than him.

Setting aside anti-communism and embracing reformism, he quickly distanced himself from the Centre Agreement and sought to collaborate with ROAD and the Forum of the Democratic Right (FPD).

Only six managed to get past the threshold of signatures - Lech Wałęsa, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Roman Bartoszcze, Leszek Moczulski and an unknown Canadian entrepreneur,[3] Stanisław Tymiński.

One was held on 7 July, another on 31 August, where Mazowiecki tried and failed to convince Wałęsa to abandon his presidential ambitions, even promising to field a compromise candidate (presumably Senate Marshal Andrzej Stelmachowski).

As such, Miller endorsed SdRP chairman and future president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who also rejected, knowing he would lose in a landslide and likely undermine his position in the party by doing so.

The next day, the crisis was resolved, as the Supreme Council of PSL confirmed Bartoszcze's candidacy, which believed that voters would be much more likely to support a candidate which did not derive from the communist establishment.

[2] Confederation of Independent Poland In August 1990, the KPN was split, with ~300 of its ~1500 members seceding, forming the Confederation of Independent Poland – Democratic Faction (Polish: Konfederacja Polski Niepodległej – Frakcja Demokratyczna, KPN-FD), accusing KPN's leader Leszek Moczulski of authoritarian rule over the party.

[2] It was also indecisive, and the decision of experienced campaign staff was often overriden or contested by proper politicians with a higher authority serving in the team.

In light of these obstacles, Mazowiecki tried to deemphasize the importance of his own persona, instead elevating his electoral platform, a strategy that found little appeal outside of intelligentsia circles (which already overwhelmingly supported him).

A defining symbol of Mazowiecki's personal isolation was an advertisement his team aired at the beginning of the campaign, presenting him walking around a park, surrounded by bodyguards.

In contrast, Wałesa's image was quite overt - Solidarity's chairman held dozens of rallies, meetings and other public events, his persona was charming, characterized as a "plebeian tribune", a "sheriff" bringing communists to justice, promising to directly overlook everything that needed resolution - such a persona enjoyed much public popularity.

The advertisements were so effective that even in an entire voivodeship where Tymiński's campaign had no presence, he had received the largest number of votes of any candidate in the first round.

Meanwhile, Wałesa promised to soften the mass privatization schemes of Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz which was largely responsible for perpetually increasing poverty and unemployment and give every Pole a "hundred million (old) złotys" to let citizens better participate in the economic restructuring.

[2] Wałęsa's response to such advertisements was to air his own, notably a cartoon in which, wielding the same axe, he destroyed the "thick stroke"[b] and chased away red spiders, signifying communists.

Mazowiecki's ally, Gazeta Wyborcza editor-in-chief Adam Michnik, presented Wałesa as a dangerous strongman who would introduce a "catastrophic, Peronist-esque regime".

[2] TVP released material in a smear campaign against Tymiński on 4 December, pinning several allegations against him, among which, that he abused his wife and children.

His successor, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, was another liberal, who was again selected by the criteria Wałęsa set out for any possible prime ministers - to be younger and less experienced politically.

UD contested the 1991 parliamentary election, becoming the biggest party in the Sejm with 62 seats until a splinter led by former FPD members.

On the 3rd Congress of Solidarity on 22-25 February, despite Wałesa's endorsement, Kaczyński lost the vote for union leadership to Krzaklewski, who would become an important politician for the duration of the next decade.

Bartoszcze's ousting led to him creating a new party, the Polish People's Christian Forum "Fatherland" [pl], which had significantly less success than PSL and never won any seats in any election.