The Sejm’s Judiciary Committee has tabled a bill for further work, which would allow a nationwide referendum and parliamentary elections to be held on the same day and at the same time.
According to PiS, the project is of a technical nature, while according to the opposition it is about the possibility of using money for the election campaign that is not subject to the strictness of the electoral law. KO indicated, among other things, the lack of vacatio legis (the law comes into force on the day after publication).
The first reading took place before the expiry of the seven days required by the rules of the Sejm from the handing over of the document to the deputies, the majority agreed that the committee should start work on the bill as requested by the chairman Marek Ast (PiS). The committee in whose meeting the first reading took place did not agree to postpone work; The Polish 2050 motion to reject the project did not receive a majority.
The draft does not require such an explicit procedure, as the next session of the Sejm is scheduled for next week
– said Anna-Maria Żukowska, who argued that a project important for civil rights requires expertise.
According to Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, the motive for moving quickly is “PiS’s desire to get another political fuel” in the form of “raising moods, intimidating people, spreading hatred and frightening PiS with appalling anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
There is no party that wants a forced move, the European Commission does not want it, so what is the point of this referendum?
she asked.
To justify the bill, Paweł Hreniak (PiS) pointed out that the amended 2003 law on the national referendum allows parliamentary, EP and presidential elections to be held on the same day as the national referendum. He recalled that the state election commission also clarified this last week.
According to the interpretation, elections could already be combined with a national referendum today, but for a certain transparency and convenience in carrying out combined acts of referendum and elections, we have submitted a project which is a highly technical project; first of all, it unifies the hours of voting
said Hreniak.
It is also about standardizing the deadlines for providing information on constituency election commissions and issues related to postal voting and proxy voting. The draft also stipulates that the votes cast on ships will be transferred to the electoral commissioner responsible for Warsaw.
It’s about money. By holding parliamentary elections and a referendum at the same time, two completely different financing models collide
– said Gasiuk-Pihowicz, pointing to the “very restrictive” provisions regarding the electoral law and the more liberal provisions in the referendum law. According to her, this will give the ruling party “an unlimited amount of money for the campaign from previously unavailable sources”, including state-owned companies.
We all know that the PiS election slogans will coincide with the referendum campaign slogans
– she said.
According to Michał Szczerba (KO), the PiS Commission will be able to “use the gigantic financial resources it has accumulated by transferring funds from the Justice Fund, the Patriotic Fund, to use the funds in the election campaign under the guise of a referendum . campaign”
PiS representatives replied that the material on the referendum did not list any candidates for parliament.
NEC President Sylwester Marciniak pointed out that the current law provides an “undoubted legal basis” for holding elections – with the exception of municipal elections – and a referendum on the same day.
The legislator also assumed that the election campaign and the referendum campaign would be conducted simultaneously
added Marciniak. He recalled that the provisions of the electoral law do not apply to the financing of the referendum campaign. It stipulates that the costs of election commissions be met from proprietary sources and obtained only from entities specified in the code, and that the trustees must submit a financial report to the NEC, which may accept it, accept it with an indication of deficiencies, or reject it. .
The provisions of the Electoral Act do not apply to the financing of the referendum campaign; the expenses of the entities participating in the campaign are covered from their own resources. So they are separate financial economies
said the chairman of the PKW.
The main difficulty in holding the elections and the referendum at the same time was the issue of voting hours – the referendum is held from 6am to 10pm, while parliamentary elections are held from 7am to 9pm.
The opposition – recalling the position of the Commissioner for Human Rights – expressed its concern whether the committees abroad, which so far should have counted more votes than the committees in the country, would succeed in counting the votes this time at the elections have been called and in the referendum and would meet the time limit, exceeding which would result in the votes being considered unpaid.
Four years ago, during the last Sejm and Senate elections, 320 election commissions were set up abroad in more than 90 countries. The provision of a maximum of 24 hours waiting for protocols from abroad has been in effect since 2003 and there have never been any problems with any votes not being counted
Marciniak replied.
The draft law stipulates that a national referendum can be held on the same day and at the same time – from 07:00 to 21:00 – as parliamentary, presidential or EP elections.
In June, PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński declared that the issue of relocation of migrants in the European Union should be put to a referendum. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed the intention to hold the referendum together with the parliamentary elections in the autumn.
kk/PAP
Source: wPolityce