Notification to the prosecutor's office about the possibility of committing a crime by five members of the National Electoral Commission and the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domanski, a complaint about the inaction of the National Electoral Commission and a dialogue with the Venice Commission. some measures taken by Law and Justice after the National Election Commission's decision to postpone the party's financial reporting meeting.
On Monday, the National Electoral Commission discussed the report of the PiS electoral committee to “systematic regulation of the constitutional bodies of the Republic of Poland on the legal status of the Chamber of Emergency Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court and the judges who participate in the hearing of this chamber”, the decision was 5:4. Last week, the Electoral Chamber accepted the appeal of PiS regarding the rejection of the report of the election committee of this party for the 2023 parliamentary elections. by the current government and some members of the National Electoral Commission, some lawyers and European tribunals.
The adjournment request was submitted by PKW member Pavel Gieras. Five people voted to postpone the election: besides Gieras, Ryszard Balicki, Rysard Kalish, Makey Kalish and Konrad Skladowski. The opponents were: Sylvester Marciniak, Wojciech Sych, Arkadiusz Pikulik and Miroslav Suski.
Read more: The National Electoral Commission postponed the decision on the report of the PiS electoral committee.
Blaszczak: The National Election Commission will illegally influence the election results
Mariusz Blaszczak, a member of the PiS parliament, said at a press conference on Wednesday that “the actions of the ruling coalition candidates in the National Election Commission are aimed at illegally influencing the results of next year's presidential elections” and preventing them from having funds for the PiS campaign.
Blaszczak said that PiS has submitted a notification to the prosecutor's office about the possible commission of a crime by the five members of the National Electoral Commission who voted to postpone the meeting. This party also submitted a report to the prosecutor's office about the possible commission of a crime by the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domanski.
See also: Decision of the National Electoral Commission on money for PiS. We know what the Ministry of Finance is doing
This party has also submitted a request to the head of the National Election Commission, Sylvester Marciniak, “to implement the judgment of the Supreme Court”. – Our next activity is to complain about the inaction of the National Election Commission to the administrative court of the region, – added the leader of the PiS club.
PiS will appeal to the Venice Commission
– Due to the fact that the Venice Commission, which operates within the framework of the Council of Europe, is interested in the issue of the rule of law in our country, we also appeal to the Venice Commission. In the dialogue (…) we will present our evidence about the violation of the law and the behavior of the National Electoral Commission – the majority from the December 13 coalition – Blaszczak said.
The politician also announced that he will appeal to the Speaker of the Seimas, Simon Holounia, to submit a request to the president to dismiss five members of the National Election Commission.
Jaroslav Kaczynski on PKWTVN24's decision
PiS reports to the prosecutor's office
PiS spokesman Rafal Bochenek assessed that the actions of some members of the National Electoral Commission have signs of very serious crimes related to the violation of the election law. He also assessed that according to the regulations, the National Election Commission – when the judgment of the Supreme Court – should immediately accept the report of the party and in this context, the head of the Ministry of Finance should pay the necessary amount.
In a notification sent to the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office, PiS argues that “no legal provision provides for this type of suspension of NEC functions” and the Electoral Code in Art. 145 para 6 mandates the National Election Commission to implement the decision of the Supreme Court without the right of alternative action.
The National Electoral Commission postponed the decision on the financial statements of PiSMaciej Knapik/Fakty TVN
It was also mentioned that the same members of the National Electoral Commission, “in similar cases, after similar decisions of the same Supreme Court Panel – but on different subjects or issues – voted in favor of adopting decisions that respect the judgments of the Supreme Court.” (i.e. the acceptance of the financial report previously discussed by the National Election Commission)”. Therefore, according to PiS, the members of the National Election Commission “did not fulfill their obligations and exceeded their authority to the detriment of Public and private interests have gone out.”
Notices to the Minister of Finance and other officials of the Ministry
In the same letter, the party informs about the suspicion of committing a crime by the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domansky, as well as the chief specialist of the department of corporate control, management of receivables and financing of political parties of the Legal Department of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Finance Joanna Baranowska and perhaps other officials of the Ministry of Finance.
They were accused of “failing to fulfill their obligations to the detriment of public and private interests”. The notification states that “in view of the payment of subsidies and specific subsidies to PiS, they did not fulfill the above-mentioned obligation due to circumstances that do not constitute a legal basis for such cases (ie the validity of non-commercial decisions of the National Electoral Commission)”.
The National Electoral Commission postponed the decision on the financial statements of PiSMaciej Knapik/Fakty TVN
The National Electoral Commission rejected the financial report of PiS
On August 29, the National Electoral Commission rejected the financial report of the PiS electoral committee for the 2023 parliamentary elections.
After the National Electoral Commission rejected the PiS report, the party's subjective subsidy (about 38 million PLN) was reduced three times from the suspicious amount, which is about 10.8 million PLN. In addition, the annual subsidy was reduced by PLN 10.8 million by about PLN 26 million. The consequence is also the return to the State Treasury of the disputed amount, i.e. PLN 3.6 million. Moreover, the rejection of the election report led to the rejection of the PiS annual financial report for 2023. According to the regulations, the rejection of the annual report can cause the party to lose the subsidy from the budget for three years.
As a result of the August decision of the National Electoral Commission, PiS received less money from the budget in 2024 than if the report of the election committee had been adopted. On the day PiS's appeal was accepted by the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Finance, asked whether the payments would be added to PiS, replied that the Ministry “does not have a case” and that the “decision of the National Election Commission” is binding on the Ministry of Finance. “
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court is authorized to consider appeals against the decisions of the National Election Commission, as well as to decide on the validity of elections. It was established under the PiS government under the Supreme Court Act of 2017 and is made up of persons appointed at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary, which was established in December 2017.
Main photo source: PAP
