Electoral commission rejects opposition PiS party’s financial report, threatening its finances

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s National Electoral Commission (PKW) has rejected the annual financial report of Law and Justice (PiS), the country’s main opposition party, due to campaign spending irregularities.

The decision could cost the party tens of millions of zloty in lost state subsidies. However, the outcome of the case is shrouded in legal controversy stemming from the contested judicial reforms made by PiS itself when it was in power from 2015 to 2023.

PiS figures have condemned the decision – which was made by the majority of PKW members appointed by the ruling coalition – as an attempt by the government to “eliminate the opposition” and “introduce an autocratic system”.

Under Polish law, political parties that win at least 3% of the vote in parliamentary elections – or coalitions that achieve at least 6% – receive state subsidies to help fund their activities.

They must also submit annual reports on their finances for assessment by the PKW, as well as reports on spending in election campaigns. If the PKW finds irregularities in those reports, it can cut a party’s subsidies.

In August, a majority of five on the nine-person PKW voted to reject PiS’s financial report on last year’s parliamentary election campaign after it identified over 3 million zloty (€695,550) of irregular spending by the party.

Today’s decision to reject PiS’s annual financial report for the entirety of 2023 “was based on the same premise” as the rejection of its campaign financing report in August, said PKW spokesman Marcin Chmielnicki today, quoted by broadcaster RMF. It was also supported by a majority of five members.

However, an appeal by PiS against the August decision is still pending at the Supreme Court. The PKW’s chairman, Sylwester Marciniak, said today that the party will not lose its state subsidies unless that appeal is rejected. Yet Poland’s current ruling coalition is unlikely to accept any ruling on the appeal.

That is because it is being made by the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs, which was created by PiS but has been found not to be a legitimate body by the Court of Justice of the European Union because it is staffed by unlawfully appointed judges.

A member of the PKW appointed by the ruling coalition, Ryszard Kalisz, said that the commission would regard any decisions by the Supreme Court chamber as “non-existent” because it would be made by “people who are not judges”.

It is then the government’s finance ministry that is responsible for paying out – or not – subsidies to parties.

Large amounts of money are at stake. In its August decision, the PKW decided to cut PiS’s compensation for last year’s election expenses by around 11 million zloty. It also reduced the party’s annual state subsidy from 26 million zloty to 15 million zloty.

Today’s decision to reject PiS’s 2023 annual financial report would mean that its annual subsidy would be cut entirely for three years, notes financial news service Money.pl. However, the decision can also be appealed to the Supreme Court.

PiS has portrayed the actions of the PKW as an attempt by the government to use its majority on the committee to destroy the opposition. Five of the PKW’s nine members are appointed by the ruling majority in parliament (under a law introduced by PiS when it was in power).

After today’s meeting, Marciniak – who was appointed head of the PKW when PiS was in power – confirmed that the decision to reject the party’s financial report had been “decided by the parliamentary-governmental majority” on the committee, reports Onet.

“The decision of the [ruling] coalition’s political nominees in the PKW shows that the plan of the government is to eliminate the only real opposition in Poland through illegal, administrative actions,” declared PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek.

“They know that they will not win democratically, honestly, which is why they break the law,” he added. Bochenek suggested that the aim is to hinder the chances of PiS’s nominee in next year’s presidential election by reducing the amount of money the party can spend on its campaign.

“Everything indicates that this is an element of preparation for fraud in the upcoming elections,” he wrote. “The decisions in question are aimed at introducing an autocratic system in Poland, personally controlled by [Prime Minister Donald] Tusk.”

The PKW’s decision was, however, welcomed by interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak, who called it “good news for those who want fair and equal elections in the future” as it exposes “all the hypocrisy and lawlessness that this group [PiS] is involved in”.

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: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl