The National Electoral Commission, which will meet on Monday afternoon, will once again consider the report of the Law and Justice Committee on the 2023 parliamentary elections after the decision of the Supreme Court’s Extraordinary Control and Public Relations Chamber was not recognized. This chamber, whose activities are questioned by the European courts, among others, accepted PiS’s complaint about the rejection of the report by the National Election Commission.
On December 11, the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Relations of the Supreme Court accepted PiS’s appeal regarding the rejection of the report of the party’s election committee on the 2023 parliamentary elections. with a vote of 5:4, decided to postpone the discussion of the PiS report for the period of “systematic regulation of the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Poland” on the legal status of the Accountable Chamber of the Supreme Court, whose status according to the report of the Supreme Court. among others, it was asked by the government, European tribunals and some members of the National Election Commission.
There may be a problem getting a quorum
This issue was supposed to be returned to the National Election Commission on December 23 according to the periodic procedure, but the Commission did not make a decision in this manner. Then the chairman of the National Electoral Commission Sylvester Marciniak reported that four members of the National Electoral Commission protested the adoption of the resolution based on the report. He explained that it is enough for one of the members of the Committee to protest against the adoption of the resolution by vote – then a date should be set for the meeting where a decision will be made on this issue.
Therefore, the chairman of the National Election Commission decided the date of the meeting on the PiS report for December 30, at 12 o’clock.
On Friday, one of the members of the National Electoral Commission, Ryszard Kalisz, informed TVP Info that he had not received an official notification about the meeting of the National Electoral Commission, which should be held on December 30. He added that he was informed about this by the media on the day of the meeting of the National Election Commission. Another member of the National Electoral Commission, Pavel Gieras, also said on TOK FM on Friday that he did not know whether he would attend the meeting because it was called urgently.
– In my opinion, the situation has not changed enough to change the initial decision to postpone the trial, which was made on December 16, – Gieras added. As he noted, there may be a problem in obtaining a quorum at Monday’s meeting.
Debate on the Supreme Court
After the decision of the National Electoral Commission on December 16 to postpone the discussion of the report of the PiS electoral committee, the debate about its validity continues. According to the Election Code, the recognition of the appeal by the Supreme Court obliges the National Election Commission to accept the report of the election commission. Regarding the National Electoral Commission’s decision to postpone the session, PiS submitted a notification to the prosecutor’s office about possible crimes committed by the five members of the National Electoral Commission who voted to postpone the session. President Andrzej Duda also criticized the decision of the NEC.
The status of the Supreme Court’s Emergency Control and Public Affairs Chamber, which has jurisdiction over appeals against the decisions of the National Election Commission, is being questioned by the current government and some members of the National Election Commission. It was established under the Supreme Court Act of 2017 and consists of persons appointed as judges after 2017 at the request of the National Council of Political Judiciary.
In the second half of November, the National Electoral Commission adopted a position that persons appointed by the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017 should not participate in cases of the Supreme Court and other courts in cases related to the National Electoral Commission. , in which such persons make judgments, the Commission requires their removal. However, this position was not accepted unanimously.
The head of the National Electoral Commission, Sylvester Marciniak, later said that he was in favor of “not taking such a position, because this is not a resolution, this is not a decision” and that the National Electoral Commission “does not have permission”. to make a decision in this regard.” In turn, the deputy chairman of the commission, judge Wojciech Sych, stated that this position, as it is contrary to the provisions of the constitution, cannot bring legal consequences.
Main photo source: PAP
