On Tuesday, the National Electoral Commission is to submit to the Supreme Court its position on the Law and Justice party's complaint regarding the rejection of the financial report from the 2023 elections, informed the head of the National Electoral Office Magdalena Pietrzak.
At the end of August, the National Electoral Commission rejected the financial report of the PiS electoral committee for the 2023 parliamentary elections, accusing the party of irregularities in campaign financing in the amount of PLN 3.6 million.
In connection with this decision, the entity subsidy for this party (almost PLN 38 million) was reduced by three times the amount in question, i.e. by approximately PLN 10.8 million. The nearly PLN 26 million annual subsidy was reduced by PLN 10.8 million, and PiS must also return the disputed amount, i.e. PLN 3.6 million, to the State Treasury.
In early September, PiS appealed the decision, arguing that it was made “in complete contradiction with the law.” If the Supreme Court finds the complaint justified, the National Electoral Commission decides to accept the financial report.
However, the complaint will be considered by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, which is not recognized by international tribunals, so it is not clear how its ruling will be treated. Government representatives have suggested that the NEC's decision should remain in force until it is challenged by a court whose status is not disputed.
The National Electoral Commission will submit its position on the PiS complaint
The head of the National Electoral Office, Magdalena Pietrzak, announced that at Monday's meeting, members of the National Electoral Office agreed on a position regarding the complaint filed by PiS.
According to information from PAP close to the National Electoral Commission, the issue of the status of the Extraordinary Control Chamber came up during the discussion. Ultimately, it was agreed that the position of the National Electoral Commission would be forwarded to the Supreme Court as such, and not specifically to that chamber.
– The position together with attachments will be submitted tomorrow (Tuesday – ed.) – Pietrzak informed. As she pointed out, the National Electoral Commission was asked for the case files and will submit them in their entirety – this does not only concern the documentation that was the basis for adopting the August resolution, but also “everything that has been collected in this case”. – This is a huge amount of documents – the head of the National Electoral Commission emphasized.
Loss of the right to subsidy almost certain
As Pietrzak reported, the National Electoral Commission accepted 10 financial reports of smaller political parties on Monday – those for which analysis takes less time. – The last 14 financial reports of electoral committees participating in the elections to the Sejm and Senate were still being considered and accepted – she added.
Everything indicates that the PiS report for 2023 will be considered by the National Electoral Commission in early October, although the date of the meeting on this matter has not yet been set. The date of the next National Electoral Commission meeting has not yet been set.
Due to the possibility of the report being rejected, Law and Justice is at risk of losing the entire subsidy for the next three years, i.e. a total of over PLN 77 million.
In a Monday interview with Money.pl, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, indicated that the loss of the right to subsidy in this term of the Sejm is almost certain. Asked about the “bite” with decisions made so far by the National Electoral Commission, he admitted that he was considering resigning from his position. “That would be the easiest, but would it be the best?” he added.
Main image source: PAP/Leszek Szymanski