Polish lawmakers approved Friday a controversial draft law that would compensate people for work carried out under the communist regime by giving them ownership of their apartments.

The law calls for the transfer of apartments owned by local councils and cooperatives to their occupants, as well as the transfer of state-owned land being rented on permanent leases. More bonds backed by privatization revenues would also be distributed to Polish citizens. The draft law passed through the lower house of the parliament by a vote of 222 to 213 with two abstentions. The legislation is part of the political program of the conservative AWS Solidarity party which currently heads a minority government, and is trailing in polls ahead of presidential elections scheduled for October. AWS Solidarity presidential candidate Marian Krzaklewski said the law "gives the people back what belonged to them". Leszek Balcerowicz, a former finance minister considered the architect of Poland's economic reforms, called it a "grotesque and absurd law" that marks a "triumph of populism and a social defeat". In order to become law the legislation must still be signed by President Alexander Kwasniewski, a former communist, who may veto the bill.