“Gazeta Wyborcza” wrote that during the European Parliament campaign, PiS workers put up Ryszard Karnecki's election banners “everywhere they could” in Greater Poland, often without the necessary consent. The newspaper writes that on this occasion, the regional road administration of the city of Ostrov Vilkopolski demanded a fine of about one hundred thousand zlotys, and with the help of the bailiff, this money was collected from the party of Yaroslav Kaczynski.
The newspaper writes that during the election campaign, PiS employees hung banners of Ryzard Czarnecki and shook President Kaczynski's hand “wherever they could, often without consent.”
However, in Greater Poland, where Czarnecki started, only one local government, Ostrow poviat, decided to punish a PiS politician, after the intervention of local councilor Malgorzata Urbaniak of the Civic Alliance.
Ryszard Czarnecki Andrzej Lange / PAP
“The first such case in the country after the last election”
“PZD submitted an application to the Electoral Committee of Law and Justice for the introduction and execution of administrative punishment. The Committee appealed to the Court of Appeal of the Local Government. However, it rejected the appeal, but PiS did not pay the fine – a total of PLN 93,000. After closing the account and collecting half of the debt, PiS decided to pay the other half voluntarily,” GW said.
“As far as I can hear, this is the first such case in the country after the last elections to the European Parliament. It was a race against time, because according to the law, electoral committees are closed after 60 days after submitting the report,” explains Malgorzata Urbaniak. in interview with “Wyborcza”.
The deputy of the local council notes that the procedural problem was the transfer of responsibility from the election committee to the party. “However, the election committee is established by the party, and the party must allocate funds in its budget to pay fines for violations by the candidates,” he emphasizes. “The fine has been imposed, although the verdict is not final. PiS will appeal to the Provincial Administrative Court (Provincial Administrative Court – ed.)” – notes “Vyborcha”.
The money goes to melanoma detection
The representatives of the governing civil coalition of this district initially wanted to allocate this money for the repair of roads, but in the end they decided to use this money for early diagnosis of melanoma.
Richard Czarnecki did not enter the European Parliament in June. He has served four terms there since 2004.
“He's got to handle it. I think he can handle it.”
Slawomir Lasiecki, the leader of PiS municipal structures in Kalish, according to “GW”, announced that the party will demand from Czarnecki to return the money that the bailiff took from the committee's account. “If Mr. Czarnecki has to pay a fine now, he has to settle it. I think he can pay it,” Lasiecki says.
Main photo credit: Andrzej Lange/PAP
