After Wałęsa defeated him by a wide margin, Tymiński was a leader of Party X in Poland (1990–1995) and then returned to Canada to resume his business activities.

In the first free presidential elections on November 25, 1990, the two most promising candidates were Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

Wałęsa, the electrician, union leader and people's tribune, had the image of an emotional, shirtsleeves populist, while lawyer and former Solidarity legal advisor Mazowiecki appeared as a more respectable and intellectual, but also more formal compromiser.

[1] Many people were increasingly disappointed with the conflict that had broken out within the former anti-communist opposition, making the unknown but seemingly honest and patriotic candidate appealing.

A key element of his campaign was a black briefcase he was rarely seen without – allegedly containing "secret documents" that were going to destroy his rivals' careers and that he would present when the time was due.

[2] Foreign policy analyst John Feffer, who described Tymiński as "...a rich businessman, an outspoken outsider with a love of conspiracy theories", has suggested that his 1990 campaign served as a prototype for later campaigns by right-wing populist politicians such as Viktor Orbán, Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Trump, by appealing to those who had lost out from the advance of globalization.

[5][6] On 3 June, Tymiński returned to Poland and officially declared his candidacy on behalf of a splinter party named the "All-Polish Citizens Coalition" (Ogólnopolska Koalicja Obywatelska).

Refusing to make palpable political statements, Tymiński and Kornowski converge in their vague "pro-business" and "anti-establishment" message.