Poland’s National Electoral Commission has rejected the campaign accounts of the right-wing former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party for the 2023 parliamentary election, penalizing it with the withdrawal of three years’ worth of annual state subsidies and 10 million złoty (€2 million) in grants.
The head of the Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, announced after a Thursday sitting of the body that PiS’s electoral campaign accounts had been rejected due to breaches of campaign rules, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Marciniak said that the usual state electoral grant of 38 million złoty (€8.8 million) would be cut by 10 million złoty in view of the violations.
“The consequences are more serious when it comes to subsidies for a political party,” Marciniak said, explaining that PiS would be denied subsidies for three years unless it appealed successfully.
PiS has already said it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and has 14 days to do so from official receipt of the Commission’s ruling.
PiS, which was ejected by voters after a parliamentary election late last year, has accused Poland’s now-governing parties of mounting a witchhunt against it and of applying pressure on the National Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, politicians from the ruling coalition accuse PiS of misusing public funds as an election campaign war chest.
Electoral Commission member Ryszard Balicki said the grounds for rejecting PIS’s accounts included “electoral agitation” during military social events, an advertorial video produced by the Ministry of Justice, and electioneering by the Government Legislation Centre, a state body supervising the legislative process.
Balicki said the Electoral Commission’s decision was reached by a majority vote and was based on the available documentation.
“We do not have investigative powers so we must act on the basis of documentation that other state bodies have presented us with,” he said.
“There are certain situations that we are convinced represent a breach of the rules of running an election campaign.”
He said the violations represented a value of 3.6 million zloty (€840,000).
Another Commission member, Ryszard Kalisz, estimated that Thursday’s decision could cost PiS as much as 54 million złoty (€12.6 million) in total.
Mateusz Morawiecki, a former PiS prime minister, described the Commission’s ruling as “shameful” and said it formed part of the current government’s “political games aimed at vengeance and marginalization of the opposition.”
PiS has been accused by critics of treating public money as its own, fostering endemic cronyism and undermining democracy during its eight years in power.
Marciniak said that the usual state electoral grant of 38 million złoty (€8.8 million) would be cut by 10 million złoty in view of the violations.
“The consequences are more serious when it comes to subsidies for a political party,” Marciniak said, explaining that PiS would be denied subsidies for three years unless it appealed successfully.
PiS has already said it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and has 14 days to do so from official receipt of the Commission’s ruling.
PiS, which was ejected by voters after a parliamentary election late last year, has accused Poland’s now-governing parties of mounting a witchhunt against it and of applying pressure on the National Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, politicians from the ruling coalition accuse PiS of misusing public funds as an election campaign war chest.
Electoral Commission member Ryszard Balicki said the grounds for rejecting PIS’s accounts included “electoral agitation” during military social events, an advertorial video produced by the Ministry of Justice, and electioneering by the Government Legislation Centre, a state body supervising the legislative process.
Balicki said the Electoral Commission’s decision was reached by a majority vote and was based on the available documentation.
“We do not have investigative powers so we must act on the basis of documentation that other state bodies have presented us with,” he said.
“There are certain situations that we are convinced represent a breach of the rules of running an election campaign.”
He said the violations represented a value of 3.6 million zloty (€840,000).
Another Commission member, Ryszard Kalisz, estimated that Thursday’s decision could cost PiS as much as 54 million złoty (€12.6 million) in total.
Mateusz Morawiecki, a former PiS prime minister, described the Commission’s ruling as “shameful” and said it formed part of the current government’s “political games aimed at vengeance and marginalization of the opposition.”
PiS has been accused by critics of treating public money as its own, fostering endemic cronyism and undermining democracy during its eight years in power.
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