Polish democracy champion Lech Walesa turns 80 and comments on his country’s upcoming election

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Former Polish President Lech Walesa says he is supporting opposition leader Donald Tusk’s effort to oust Poland’s conservative government in the country’s parliamentary election next month. Walesa’s Solidarity movement toppled communist rule in Poland in 1989. He said Friday as he celebrated his 80th birthday that the situation under the government led by the nationalist Law and Justice party is “worse than bad, and the only way of rescue is in removing them from power.” Walesa personally knows both Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, and Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who served as head of Walesa’s presidential office in 1990-91 and was fired from the job.