The majority of the Sejm will reject the Senate’s objection to the amendment to the Electoral Act. The opposition does not want the change on the pretext that it is too late, but it is about bringing the polling stations closer to the voters and the change is in line with the constitution, says PiS MP Marek Ast.
The Senate rejected the amendment to the Electoral Act on Wednesday. The Senate’s resolution now goes to the Sejm.
There is a majority in the Sejm that will reject this proposal from the Senate to reject the bill
said Ast to PAP. He added that Sent’s position was to be expected.
Opposition of “Total Opposition”
In general, the “total opposition” to bringing polling stations closer to voters is that they don’t want this change on the pretext that it’s too late. We have emphasized many times that we believe that this is a constitutional amendment which does not fall within the scope of those which the Tribunal has defined as significant amendments
said the PiS MP.
This is something to make it easier for citizens to participate in elections
– added.
The Sejm approved the amendment on January 26. According to the authors of the new regulations – PiS deputies – they are intended to increase turnout in elections.
Under one of the changes introduced by the amendment, the head of a rural or rural-urban municipality must provide free passenger transportation in the form of public transportation “to vote for voters on the electoral roll in a permanent voting circuit. located in the area of a specific municipality, if there is no public collective transport within the framework of this municipality on election day or if the nearest communication stop of the functioning collective transport is more than 1.5 km from the polling station. A disabled voter with a severe or moderate disability and a voter who reaches the age of 60 at the latest on the day of the vote are entitled to free transportation from their place of residence to the polling station associated with the constituency.
While working on the amendment in the Sejm, the opposition pointed out that the changes to the electoral law may, however, lead to lower turnout, as they will make it more difficult for people living outside Poland to vote. Currently, the consul makes a note on the basis of a personal application submitted orally, in writing, by telephone, telegraph, fax or in electronic form. Applications can be submitted no later than 3 days before Election Day.
According to the amendments, the application of the voter wishing to vote abroad can only be submitted in writing “on paper recorded with a handwritten signature or using an electronic service” by the Secretary of State or to the email address of the consul “as a digital representation of the hand-signed application.” In addition, the notification must be made no later than 5 days before election day.
Senate committees against
During Tuesday’s debate in the Senate, Senator Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (a group of independent senators) said the committees have been introduced to, among other things, the views of constitutionalists on the amendment. He emphasized that all opinions about the novella were negative.
With this amendment to the Electoral Law, all experts and constitutional experts pointed out various oversights, inaccuracies and sometimes even, in their opinion, violations (of judgments – PAP) of, for example, the Constitutional Tribunal or the European Court of Human Rights
said the senator.
He added that the draft, as a parliamentary draft, was not subject to consultation according to constitutionalists, although it involved code changes. He pointed out that, according to the constitutionalists, the applicable vacatio legis had not been observed, even though it concerned electoral procedures. In this case, he added, the so-called “legislative silence”, ie no changes to the electoral law in the short time before the election. He also recalled the decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal of 2006, 2009 and 2011, in which “the Tribunal upheld the impropriety of major changes to the electoral law in the short period before the elections”.
On Thursday, PiS Secretary General Krzysztof Sobolewski announced that if all goes according to plan, the Sejm will consider the amendment to the electoral law at its next meeting. The next session of the Sejm is scheduled for March 7-9.
gah/PAP
Source: wPolityce