High-profile officials, including top politicians from the former ruling party are suspected of violating the law while attempting to conduct the presidential elections via postal vote in May 2020.
A parliamentary investigative committee examining the legality of the vote, which was planned to be carried out at the height of the pandemic, presented its final report on Thursday.
It found that the officials may have committed a crime of exceeding their powers, failing to fulfill obligations, and potentially causing a risk to health and life.
Who's involved?
The report has named top former politicians from the previous ruling party: the Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek, the Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin, the management of the Polish Post and the Polish Security Printing Works, Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński, and Minister Michał Dworczyk, among others.
COVID-19 and postal voting
On April 16, 2020, the Polish parliament passed an Act suspending aspects of the Electoral Code, including preparing ballot cards.
The National Election Commission responded by saying that depriving it “of the legal possibility of printing ballot cards made voting in the Polish presidential elections on May 10, 2020, impossible. Ballot cards are a necessary condition for conducting the vote.”
It found that the officials may have committed a crime of exceeding their powers, failing to fulfill obligations, and potentially causing a risk to health and life.
Who's involved?
The report has named top former politicians from the previous ruling party: the Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek, the Minister of State Assets Jacek Sasin, the management of the Polish Post and the Polish Security Printing Works, Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński, and Minister Michał Dworczyk, among others.
COVID-19 and postal voting
On April 16, 2020, the Polish parliament passed an Act suspending aspects of the Electoral Code, including preparing ballot cards.
The National Election Commission responded by saying that depriving it “of the legal possibility of printing ballot cards made voting in the Polish presidential elections on May 10, 2020, impossible. Ballot cards are a necessary condition for conducting the vote.”
But the Act enabled the then Prime Minister Morawiecki to instruct the Polish Post “to take action in the field of counteracting COVID-19.” In practice, this would mean undertaking and introducing the necessary measures to make it possible to prepare for the Presidential General Elections via postal voting in 2020.
Controversies
The planned organization of voting entirely by post, without traditional polling stations, raised concerns about sanitary and epidemiological safety, the reliability of the electoral process, and the doubtful secrecy of the vote. The estimated 70 million złoty cost of the preparations for the postal elections also raised questions.
Law and Justice politicians said that the elections should be held via a postal vote instead of at polling stations to minimize the risk of the coronavirus spreading among the electorate. According to the then opposition, by rushing the presidential elections at all costs, the ruling party wanted to capitalize on high support in the polls for their candidate, Andrzej Duda, in office since 2015.
The decision to hold the elections by postal vote was even questioned within the ruling coalition, with Jarosław Gowin and junior coalition member, the Agreement, quitting government as a sign of a protest.
Eventually, Gowin and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński made an agreement on canceling the May 10 elections. With the pandemic in the country improving, the idea of a postal vote was dropped, and the elections finally took place on June 28, 2020. Two weeks later, Andrzej Duda secured his second term in a presidential runoff against the challenger, Rafał Trzaskowski.
However, in September 2020, Poland’s top administrative court (NSA) ruled that Morawiecki had conducted “a gross violation of the law” and that there had been no grounds to announce postal voting.
Judges argued that executives do not have the authority to change electoral law and that voters would not have been guaranteed “an equal, direct, and secret ballot.”
But crucially for the NSA was the fact that Morawiecki had started to make preparations for holding postal votes even before the relevant legislation allowing the election to take place became law.
The concerns about the security of the citizens’ data turned out to be well founded, as in March 2021, the NSA ruled that Poland's digitization ministry unlawfully handed the personal information of Polish voters to the post office in preparation for the postal elections.
Controversies
The planned organization of voting entirely by post, without traditional polling stations, raised concerns about sanitary and epidemiological safety, the reliability of the electoral process, and the doubtful secrecy of the vote. The estimated 70 million złoty cost of the preparations for the postal elections also raised questions.
Law and Justice politicians said that the elections should be held via a postal vote instead of at polling stations to minimize the risk of the coronavirus spreading among the electorate. According to the then opposition, by rushing the presidential elections at all costs, the ruling party wanted to capitalize on high support in the polls for their candidate, Andrzej Duda, in office since 2015.
The decision to hold the elections by postal vote was even questioned within the ruling coalition, with Jarosław Gowin and junior coalition member, the Agreement, quitting government as a sign of a protest.
Eventually, Gowin and PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński made an agreement on canceling the May 10 elections. With the pandemic in the country improving, the idea of a postal vote was dropped, and the elections finally took place on June 28, 2020. Two weeks later, Andrzej Duda secured his second term in a presidential runoff against the challenger, Rafał Trzaskowski.
However, in September 2020, Poland’s top administrative court (NSA) ruled that Morawiecki had conducted “a gross violation of the law” and that there had been no grounds to announce postal voting.
Judges argued that executives do not have the authority to change electoral law and that voters would not have been guaranteed “an equal, direct, and secret ballot.”
But crucially for the NSA was the fact that Morawiecki had started to make preparations for holding postal votes even before the relevant legislation allowing the election to take place became law.
The concerns about the security of the citizens’ data turned out to be well founded, as in March 2021, the NSA ruled that Poland's digitization ministry unlawfully handed the personal information of Polish voters to the post office in preparation for the postal elections.
Source: TVP World, rp.pl, PAP
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