Law and Justice is benefiting from the current clinch in the National Electoral Commission. It's unfair because the reports of other parties have already been processed, said former head of the Commission Wojciech Hermeliński on TVN24. In his opinion, there would be no problem if PiS had not changed the regulations and introduced “politically appointed people” to the National Electoral Commission.
There is an ongoing dispute at the National Electoral Commission to recognize or not the judgments of the contested Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court. Committee members are divided on this topic. They decided not to convene meetings for the next seven weeks.
NEC was supposed to deal with the PiS report for 2023 at the beginning of October. Due to the possibility of rejecting the report, 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.
Hermeliński: There has never been such a situation. PiS will benefit from this
Former chairman of the Commission Wojciech Hermeliński was asked about the clinch in the National Electoral Commission on TVN24. – It is not known how long this situation will last. From what I know, there will be a meeting at the end of November, but it is difficult to say whether it will take place, he said.
– Of course, there are no strict deadlines here and exceeding them when scheduling a meeting does not result in any negative consequences. (…) This is an indicative deadline, but how long can it be extended? You can't do this forever, he emphasized.
He added that PiS benefits from extending the work of the National Electoral Commission. – There has never been such a situation. Anyway, the fact is that he benefits from it Law and Justice. The longer these deliberations last and the further dates the meetings are scheduled, the more favorable the situation will be for Law and Justice – added Hermeliński.
– It shouldn't be like this, because it's not fair. The reports of other parties were resolved on time, but here it is actually being extended, he pointed out.
Hermeliński also stated that “this clinch, this problem would not have existed if Law and Justice had not removed judges from the National Electoral Commission in 2018.” – There are only two judges left, and the remaining seven people are politically appointed, appointed by the Sejm, which is, after all, a political body – he reminded.
– If the judges had stayed, I suspect there would be no such problems – he said.
Main photo source: PAP