Stanisław Tymiński

Stanisław "Stan" Tymiński (Polish pronunciation: [staˈɲiswaf tɨˈmʲiɲskʲi]; born January 27, 1948) is a Canadian businessman of Polish origin, dealing in electronics and computers, and a sometime-politician in both Poland and Canada. Although Tymiński was born in Pruszków, he was a completely unknown person in his native country until shortly before the 1990 Polish presidential election, he emerged from the first ballot as the second strongest candidate; defeating liberal prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and forcing Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa to stand a second ballot. 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. Tymiński also contested the 2005 Polish presidential election.

In 1990/1991, Tymiński led the Libertarian Party of Canada, a minor party which never received more than 0.3% of the vote. At the same time, he started a political career in his native Poland, where democracy had just been re-established and repeatedly ran for President, and was accused of hiding his Jewish heritage .

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.