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Prosecutor general Adam Bodnar, who also serves as justice minister, has asked parliament to lift the immunity of opposition MP Mateusz Morawiecki so that he can be charged with abusing his powers while serving as prime minister in the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.
The accusation relates to Morawiecki’s attempt to organise the 2020 presidential elections by post due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Administrative courts have already found that he violated the law when doing so and prosecutors now want to bring criminal proceedings, which could result in a prison sentence.
Prokurator Generalny Adam Bodnar przekazał dziś do Marszałka Sejmu Szymona Hołowni wniosek o wyrażenie przez Sejm RP zgody na pociągnięcie posła Mateusza Morawieckiego do odpowiedzialności karnej. 🔽https://t.co/fF0NYBOJ1p
— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) January 16, 2025
In spring 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic in Poland, the then PiS government sought to organise that year’s presidential elections entirely by post.
It argued that this was necessary due to the epidemiological situation. However, critics accused PiS of acting politically, because holding elections as quickly as possible would favour the PiS-backed incumbent Andrzej Duda, who was seeking a second term as president.
They also claimed that the manner in which the government sought to organise those elections violated various laws. Those accusations have been supported by court rulings as well as a report by the state auditor.
Eventually, the postal elections were abandoned, despite the fact that at least tens of millions of zloty had been spent on preparing them. Normal elections took place instead, and were narrowly won by Duda.
In December 2023, PiS was removed from power and replaced by a new ruling coalition led by Donald Tusk. One of the new government’s primary goals has been to hold former PiS officials to account for alleged abuses during their time in power.
In a statement today, Bodnar’s office announced that he has filed a request to parliament for Morawiecki’s immunity from prosecution be lifted, which can be done by a majority vote in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house.
Prosecutors want to charge Morawiecki with abusing his powers by ordering preparations for the postal elections without having a legal basis for doing so. That crime carries a potential prison sentence of up to three years.
Poland's top administrative court has confirmed that former PiS Prime Minister @MorawieckiM violated the law when ordering the organisation of elections by post amid the pandemic https://t.co/haAzHYdH26
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 28, 2024
Bodnar’s office says that “extensive evidence” gathered by prosecutors “provides grounds for accepting a reasonable suspicion that MP Mateusz Morawiecki committed the crime”.
His actions were to the “detriment of the public interest in the form of respect for the legal order and constitutional rights of voters and led to pointless, ineffective and unjustified spending of public funds in a total amount of not less than 56,450,406.16 zloty to the detriment of the state treasury”.
Figures from Poland’s ruling coalition welcomed Bodnar’s request. “There are no sacred cows in Poland,” tweeted interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak. “No one, not even the prime minister – especially the prime minister – can take illegal actions.”
Miłosz Motyka, a spokesman for the Polish People’s Party (PSL), a junior partner in Tusk’s ruling coalition, confirmed that they would vote for Morawiecki’s immunity to be lifted. “If someone exceeds their powers, any official at any level, they are held accountable,” he said, quoted by broadcaster TVN.
Falstart panie Bodnar, kampanię wyborczą można prowadzić dopiero PO rejestracji komitetu.
— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) January 16, 2025
In September 2020, an administrative court found that Morawiecki committed “a gross violation of the law” – including the constitution and the electoral code – in ordering the elections. Last year, his appeal against that ruling was rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court, which opened the way for criminal charges.
Morawiecki and PiS have always insisted they acted legally in seeking to organise postal elections in 2020, and that they had an obligation to do so given the constitutional requirements to hold elections on time and to ensure public safety.
In a separate ruling last year, another of Poland’s top courts, the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), found that Morawiecki acted in line with the constitution when trying to organise the 2020 elections. The TK is widely seen as being under the influence of PiS.
A top court has ruled that former PiS PM @MorawieckiM acted legitimately in trying to organise postal elections in 2020.
The ruling – made by a panel consisting mostly of former PiS politicians – was rejected by an MP from the current ruling coalition https://t.co/Ex6gmI4nqL
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 21, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
