“They took away the entire subsidy from PiS”, “PiS deprived of the entire subsidy” – this is the message carried on the Internet, and it is being heated up by politicians from Jarosław Kaczyński's party. However, this is an incorrect interpretation of the decision of the National Electoral Commission to reject the report of the PiS Electoral Committee. Because the decision on the annual subsidy for the PiS party has not been made yet.
The huge confusion about how much money Law and Justice will lose as a result of the decision of the National Electoral Commission arose immediately after the National Electoral Commission conference – among others due to its chairman. August 19, the National Electoral Commission she rejected financial report of the Law and Justice Electoral Committee from the parliamentary elections held in October 2023. The legal basis was Article 144 paragraph 1 point 3 letter aie of the Electoral Code (provisions on obtaining or spending funds in violation of the law and accepting non-monetary financial benefits). The National Electoral Commission accused the PiS committee of irregularities concerning the total amount of PLN 3,621,496.17 – and then stated how much and from what was to be deducted.
PiS politicians thunder about “deprivation of financing”
However, Internet users, as well as the media, immediately reported that the entire subsidy had been taken away from Jarosław Kaczyński's party. “PiS deprived of the entire subsidy. PiS tango down”; “They took away the entire subsidy from PiS”; “And great. Law and justice won in the National Electoral Commission. PiS deprived of the subsidy for 3 years, with a subsidy 10 million less”; “The subsidy taken away in its entirety. And a 10 million return on the subsidy”; “PiS had its subsidy taken away”; “PiS had its subsidy taken away for breaking the law and financing their campaign illegally”; “Their subsidy was taken away for improper financing of the campaign” – these are sample comments on the X website (original spelling).
This narrative was quickly picked up by politicians from the United Right. Right after the National Electoral Commission announced its decision at the press conference MP Mariusz Błaszczak spoke of “depriving the opposition of funding, depriving Law and Justice of funding”. MP Rafał Bochenek spoke of “blocking funding”. MP Dariusz Matecki sounded the alarm in a post on the X website: “Depriving the largest opposition party of all funding for the next 3 years is an introduction to totalitarianism”.
It is no wonder that many are confused about what will happen with this money for PiS. “I have a feeling of information chaos, probably intentional. At the same time, I read that PiS may lose the subsidy and that it has lost it, until this morning it was said that a loss of 75% was possible, now I read that the whole thing has been taken away – and for now I do not fully understand” – said one of the internet users.
National Electoral Commission chief: “the party will be deprived of subsidies”. No
Let us recall: subsidies and grants are paid to parties by the Minister of Finance. The budget subsidy for parties is paid out in four equal installments, which are transferred to party accounts every quarter until the end of the year in which the next elections are held. The first installment is paid out no later than the 30th day from the date of the announcement by the National Electoral Commission in “Monitor Polski” of information on accepted and rejected election reports of election committees. The basis for payment is an application submitted to the Minister of Finance by the party by March 31 of each year for payment of the subsidy for a given year, prepared on an official form and confirmed by the National Electoral Commission regarding the entitlement to the subsidy and its amount.
The entity subsidy – a reimbursement to the election committee for expenses incurred during the campaign – is paid once, within nine months of the election day.
According to the National Electoral Commission's announcement after the elections, the expected annual subsidy for PiS in the period 2024-2027 is PLN 25.9 million. The amount of the subsidy has not yet been determined by the National Electoral Commission. However, using the formula included in the Electoral Code, it can be calculated that it will be PLN 37.7 million.
The information that, by the decision of the National Electoral Commission, Kaczyński's party was deprived of the entire subsidy is, among other things, the result of an imprecise statement by the head of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, at a press conference on August 29. He said that PiS would lose PLN 10 million in subsidy, so it would receive PLN 28 million. But then he said: “However, the consequences are more serious when it comes to the subsidy for a political party, because this subsidy in the next three years, this party will be deprived” (original record). He stipulated that the party could appeal to the Supreme Court. Then he repeated once again that the party would lose the subsidy “if the Supreme Court dismisses the complaint or the Electoral Committee does not file such a complaint, then in fact in its entirety.”
And when journalists asked Judge Marciniak what was the legal basis for taking away the entire subsidy from PiS, he cited Article 38a and subsequent articles of the Act on Political Parties.
Except that this provision refers to the rejection by the National Electoral Commission of the party's report, not the election committee's – which is what the National Electoral Commission was currently dealing with. According to the Electoral Code, in the event of the rejection by the National Electoral Commission of the election committee's report, the subsidy and grant for the party cannot be taken away in its entirety. They are reduced by an amount equivalent to three times the amount of funds obtained or spent in violation of the regulations, but the reduction cannot exceed 75 percent of the amount of the grant or subsidy.
READ MORE IN KONKRET24: The National Electoral Commission rejected the report of the PiS electoral committee. How much will the party lose?
Decision on subsidy for PiS “in the near future, but still in the future”
PiS may lose its entire subsidy for a period of three years, but only after the National Electoral Commission's decision regarding the submitted – let us emphasize this once again: by the PiS party, not the PiS Electoral Committee – “annual report on the sources of obtaining financial resources, including bank loans and the conditions for obtaining them, and on expenses incurred from the Electoral Fund” for 2023. It may then turn out that the rejection of the election committee's report will result in the rejection of the party's annual report as well. Then PiS – based on Article 38d of the Act on Political Parties – may lose the entire budget subsidy (and for a period of up to three years), i.e. PLN 77.7 million.
This was later correctly explained at the same NEC conference by Krzysztof Lorentz, director of the NEC's Political Parties and Election Campaigns Financing Control Team. He said that this decision could only potentially result in PiS losing the entire subsidy. – This is a potential future consequence of what the National Electoral Commission decided today. There is a connection between the resolution on the election committee report and the resolution on the political party's annual report, but the National Electoral Commission will make this connection and the final decision on the political party's financial report in the near future, because the party's annual report has not yet been audited – he announced.
The National Electoral Commission will analyze the reports of political parties for 2023 next month.
How much will PiS really lose after the latest decision by the National Electoral Commission?
On August 29, the National Electoral Commission (PKW) decided that the value of the illegal PiS campaign was PLN 3.6 million. The financial consequences for PiS will be as follows (if the Supreme Court does not accept PiS's appeal against the PKW's decision): – the party must return the amount of illegal financing to the State Treasury – 3.6 million PLN; – the one-off entity subsidy, i.e. the reimbursement of campaign costs, will be reduced by three times the amount of PLN 3.6 million, i.e. by PLN 10.8 million; – the subsidy for PiS in the following years (between 2024 and 2027) will be reduced each year by three times the violation, i.e. by PLN 10.8 million; which means a total loss of subsidy for four years 43.2 million PLN.
In total, PiS may lose 57.6 million PLN. This is a lot – over 40 percent of what PiS would receive in full (subsidy plus grant) in 2024-2027, i.e. PLN 141.4 million.
The NEC's decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court. Of course, PiS can also recognize the NEC's decision, although the party has already announced that it will file an appeal. It also wants to enter into civil proceedings with NEC members.
The Supreme Court has 60 days to finally decide on such a case. If it accepts the PiS complaint, then the National Electoral Commission is automatically obliged to accept the report. However, if it does not accept the complaint, the decision of the National Electoral Commission becomes final. Likely scenario after filing an appeal to the Supreme Court we described in Konkret24.
Main image source: Radek Pietruszka/PAP