Ex-Communist Takes Over As President

Pledging to continue the country’s democratic and freemarket reforms, former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski was sworn in Saturday as president of Poland.

Kwasniewski, 41, succeeds Lech Walesa, the former Solidarity leader, whom he edged in the Nov. 19 election on promises of creating brighter prospects for Poland’s young people.

With his wife, Jolanta, standing beside him, Kwasniewski took the presidential oath before the National Assembly.

Walesa, who refused to attend Saturday’s ceremony, became Poland’s first popularly elected president in 1990, one year after his Solidarity trade union movement toppled a more than 40-year communist dictatorship.