What Law and Justice did was intentionally bypass the act on financing election campaigns, on financing political parties – assessed Adam Szłapka, the Minister for European Union Affairs, in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. He said that he had informed the National Electoral Commission about the court's “crushing” verdict for PiS in the case of organized picnics. He added that he was waiting for the written justification of the verdict. – I hope that it will be before the National Electoral Commission issues its verdict. And I hope that this will also be taken into account – he said.
National Electoral Commission did not make a decision last Wednesday on the financial report of the PiS electoral committee for the 2023 parliamentary elections. The committee adjourned the meeting on this matter until August 29. It was justified that after receiving extensive documentation, among others from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the National Electoral Commission contacted two state institutions: the Government Legislative Centre (RCL) and the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK), to clarify doubts arising from letters that had been received recently.
Government representatives expect the PiS committee report to be rejected and raise concerns about the spending of Justice Fund funds, the use of public property, the financing of advertising spots, and the acceptance of prohibited financial benefits.
Szłapka: What PiS did was intentionally bypass the law
The Minister for European Union Affairs commented on the matter on Thursday in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24. Adam Szłapka. He assessed that what it was doing Law and Justice“this is an intentional circumvention of the law on financing election campaigns, on financing political parties”. – And this is not really just a matter of this last election campaign. This is a matter of circumventing the law on financing political parties for many years – he added.
As Szłapka said, in the reports OSCE it is described that “the elections in Poland were free, but they were not fair”. – And not only the elections in 2023 – he added. He said that the same was found in the reports on the presidential elections in 2020, in the reports on the election campaigns to the European Parliament and the parliamentary ones in 2019.
Szłapka: I informed the National Electoral Commission about the case, I am waiting for the justification of the court's verdict
Szłapka drew attention to the organization of 800 plus picnics or military picnics. – During the election campaign, immediately before, everything was clearly set up exactly as the visualizations of the Law and Justice political party were. The speeches of Law and Justice politicians, the Prime Minister, Chairman Kaczyński, ministers and all the speeches concerned current politics and the fact that one should vote for Law and Justice. And these were picnics organized by the given ministries with taxpayers' money – he said.
Szłapka recalled that he was sued by PiS in this case. – Law and Justice tried to set a trap for those who questioned the spending of public money from ministries as election campaigns. And they organized one or two picnics from the Law and Justice election fund. I retweeted this tweet, saying: PiS uses public money. I was immediately sued by PiS – he said.
– This case in the first instance ended in May this year. The court's verdict in this case was devastating for Law and Justice. The court found that this was an obvious election campaign. This was an obvious circumvention of the law – he added.
The Minister said that he had asked for a written justification of the verdict. – I informed the National Electoral Commission about this matter, saying that I was waiting for the written justification of the verdict. I hope that it will be before the National Electoral Commission issues its verdict. And I hope that this too will be taken into account – he added.