Polish president approves changes to electoral code despite opposition protests

President Andrzej Duda has signed into law a bill changing Poland’s electoral code, including increasing the number of polling stations and requiring local authorities to provide free transport on polling day for elderly and disabled people.

The ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which proposed the legislation, argues that it will strengthen the democratic process by helping more people to vote, especially those from disadvantaged groups.

The opposition, however, says that the aim is to boost turnout among rural and older voters who disproportionately support PiS. They also say that changing the electoral code so close to elections – which will take place this autumn – is unconstitutional and undemocratic.

Duda has sided with PiS, the party he used to be a member of. “This law is pro-turnout; it increases transparency; it increases the possibility for Poles to participate in the electoral process,” said the president’s chief of staff, Paweł Szrot, quoted by the Rzeczpospolita daily.

Jarosław Sachajko, an MP from the small right-wing Kukiz’15 group, which has often voted with PiS, welcomed the president’s decision, saying that residents of rural areas will “finally be treated the same as those living in cities and will have similar access to polling stations”.

Robert Kropiwnicki from the centrist Civic Platform (PO), the largest opposition group, however, told the I.PL news service that too many changes were being introduced too quickly and too close to the elections. “Such changes should be introduced in the long term,” he argued.

After the legislation was passed by the PiS-controlled lower house of parliament, the Sejm, the upper-house Senate, where the opposition had a majority, rejected it. However, that decision was then overturned by the more powerful Sejm, which again passed the bill and sent it to Duda for approval.

Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, an independent senator who caucuses with the opposition, argued that the law “is not about increasing the voter turnout as such, but about increasing the turnout of specific voters”.

In elections, PiS wins a disproportionately high number of voters in rural areas and among the elderly while the opposition does better in cities and among younger voters.

Kwiatkowski also pointed out that, according to experts, the law violates the constitutional court’s prohibition on changing the electoral code less than six months before elections are called. Duda will have to call elections by mid-August at the latest.

“Some of the changes in the law are justified,” said the senator, “but they need to be revisited not in an election year, but well in advance.”

PiS is bidding to win an unprecedented third time in office this autumn. Polling currently shows it as the most popular party, with around 35% support. But that proportion of the vote would likely not be enough for it to win a parliamentary majority alone, opening the way for an opposition coalition to take power.

Monthly polling averages for Poland’s main political groups (source: ewybory.eu)

Main photo credit: Grzegorz Celejewski / Agencja Gazeta

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.