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Marian Krzaklewski (born 1950) is a Polish politician. A member of Solidarity since the 1980s, he was one of the most known and influential Polish politicians in the late 1990s, when he created the Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność political party.
Krzaklewski studied in Politechnika Śląska. In 1980 he became involved with Solidarity, the famous Polish anti-communist trade union and social movement. Within the movement he was active in the Silesia region. In 1991 he replaced Lech Wałęsa (then president of Poland) as the chairman of Solidarity. In opposition both to the government of Wałęsa and later the left-wing SLD, he was one of the founders of the center and right-wing Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, which eventually became victorious in the Polish parliamentary election, 1997. Krzaklewski, who was elected as a deputy to the Polish parliament (Sejm), was considered for the post of Prime Minister, however in the end the post went to Jerzy Buzek. Amid the decreasing support for AWS, political infighting and corruption (TKM), he contested the Polish presidential election, 2000. As the major right-wing candidate, he polled very poorly, achieving just 15.6% of the vote. (Incumbent Kwasniewski won a majority in the first round). Subsequently AWS suffered a crushing defeat in the Polish parliamentary election, 2001. Krzaklewski resigned as the leader of AWS in 2001 (he was remplaced by Janusz Śniadek in 2002), and as the chairman of Solidarity in 2002. He currently is a member of the National Commission of NSSZ Solidarity.
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