The State Electoral Commission is to prepare explanations for the resolution of December 30, the members of the Commission decided on Thursday. This will be a response to the letter of the Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański. Ryszard Balicki and Arkadiusz Pikulik are to prepare the drafts of the magazine. They have until January 23.
National Electoral Commission discussed the topic on Thursday letters of the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański at the beginning of January regarding the interpretation of the resolution in which the National Electoral Commission approved the financial report of the PiS election committee from the elections to the Sejm and Senate in 2023.
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Reply to the minister
All members of the National Electoral Commission agreed on Thursday that answers and explanations should be provided to the head of the ministry, but not in the manner of interpreting the resolution, because such a procedure is not included in the Electoral Code. The document will be drafted by Ryszard Balicki and Arkadiusz Pikulik. They have until January 23 to do so.
During the meeting, he presented a proposed answer Ryszard Kalisz. It assumed a clear indication that the resolution adopted by the National Electoral Commission on December 30 “may not have legal and financial effects.” Kalisz argued that the resolution adopted by the National Electoral Commission will be effective only if there is confirmation that the Extraordinary Control Chamber of the Supreme Court is a court and the people adjudicating there are judges. However, the members of the National Electoral Commission did not agree to such a solution.
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NEC decisions
The National Electoral Commission, implementing the decision of the unrecognized 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 emphasized that it does not decide whether IKNiSP is a court. In a letter from the chairman of the National Electoral Commission to the Minister of Finance, it was written that in connection with the resolution of December 30, he informs that “the premise for reducing the amount of the subjective subsidy due to the Law and Justice political party has been eliminated (…)”.
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.
The resolution of the National Electoral Commission is incomprehensible to the Minister of Finance. The legal dispute over the subsidy for PiS is still unfinishedMaciej Knapik/Fakty TVN
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court is competent to consider complaints against resolutions of the National Electoral Commission as well as election protests and to confirm the validity of elections. This Chamber was established under the Act on the Supreme Court of December 2017. It is composed of persons appointed after 2017 to the office of judge at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary, established in accordance with the provisions of the Act also of December 2017. The status of these judges is questioned and the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar stated directly that in accordance with the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights, the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court “is not a court”. The status of the Supreme Court's Extraordinary Control Chamber is also questioned by some members of the National Electoral Commission.
Main photo source: PAP/Marcin Obara