The National Electoral Commission cannot, based on its journalistic assessment, assume which actions of people performing public functions are favorable or unfavorable for them in election campaigns and translate them into expenses in election campaigns – said PiS MP Marcin Horała in “Rozmowa Piaseckiego” on TVN24. When asked about PiS's next steps in the fight for the subsidy, he said that legal remedies would have to be exhausted.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański informed in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 that asked the National Electoral Commission to interpret the resolution approving the PiS financial report for 2023. National Electoral Commissionimplementing the decision of the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court of December 11, adopted on December 30, 2024, the financial report of the PiS committee from the 2023 parliamentary elections. The National Electoral Commission noted that it does not decide whether IKNiSP is a court, and further actions in this matter, including the possible payment of the PiS subsidy, should be decided by the Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański.
In August, the National Electoral Commission rejected the financial report of the PiS election committee from the 2023 parliamentary elections, showing evidence-based irregularities in the spending of campaign funds in the amount of PLN 3.6 million. The effect of this decision is a reduction in the one-time subsidy for this party, the so-called refund for the elections (almost PLN 38 million) by three times the contested amount, i.e. by approximately PLN 10.8 million, and a reduction of the nearly PLN 26 million annual subsidy from the state budget for the party's activities by PLN 10.8 million. The consequence is also the return to the State Treasury of the disputed sum, i.e. PLN 3.6 million. PiS appealed against the decision to the Supreme Court, and the Audit Chamber considered it on December 11.
Horała: this part of the NEC resolution is a journalistic opinion
The matter was commented on Thursday in “Rozmowa Piaseckiego” by Marcin Horała from the PiS club. According to him, the National Electoral Commission “cannot, based on its journalistic assessment, presume which actions of persons performing public functions are favorable or unfavorable for them in election campaigns and convert them into expenses in election campaigns.”
In Horała's opinion, Domański should pay PiS money. – If you look into the constitution and the Act on the National Electoral Commission or any other act, you will not find a provision anywhere that the National Electoral Commission is a body appointed to assess the correctness or irregularity of the Supreme Court, its Chambers and so on. So this part of the NEC's resolution has the nature of a journalistic opinion, without legal force, because the NEC does not have such a right. The Constitution states that state authorities act on the basis and within the limits of the law. So even if we assume that all these opinions regarding the Chamber of Extraordinary Control are true, the National Electoral Commission is still not the body that can make a binding statement – argued Horała.
– At this point, we cannot count on the prosecutor's office in Poland to conduct the proceedings properly – said Horała. He did not rule out an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court or even European tribunals. – We will have to exhaust legal options here – he said.
Main photo source: TVN24