The head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Jan Grabiec, stated that the National Electoral Commission had received substantial and well-documented materials about irregularities in the financing of the election campaign by PiS. He argued that if the commission members read the material with impartiality, they would likely conclude that this was a clear case of improper funding.
On Wednesday, the National Electoral Commission is scheduled to reexamine the financial reports submitted by the electoral commissions for the parliamentary elections, including PiS. Should the commission reject PiS’s report, it could affect subsidies and targeted subsidies tied to the party’s electoral activities.
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On Friday, information from the Prime Minister’s Office was sent to the National Electoral Commission detailing notifications to the prosecutor’s office arising from inspections and audits by authorities regarding violations of the Electoral Act, cited as a reason for rejecting the electoral commission’s financial report.
Grabiec’s accusations
In an interview with TVN24, Grabiec claimed that materials gathered by the Prime Minister’s Office show that the PiS election campaign was financed with millions of zlotys from the state budget and state organs, which would violate electoral law. The claim emphasizes that such funds were used to support PiS candidates or the broader campaign apparatus, including events organized by party officials and MP candidates belonging to PiS.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery highlighted that the materials provided to the National Electoral Commission are extensive and well-documented, with facts, names, dates, and places clearly laid out. He asserted that if the commission members took time to read and adjudicate impartially, they would see a straightforward case.
He recalled that before the campaign, the National Election Commission issued guidelines to the Sejm and the Senate outlining what constitutes a violation of the Electoral Code. He noted that the submitted materials repeatedly refer to these guidelines and legal provisions, listing dozens of alleged violations each time.
The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement noting that the documents presented to the National Electoral Commission include examples of irregularities such as promotional and agitational activities conducted by personnel from the Government Legislation Centre on behalf of the then president of RCL, who was contesting the elections.
They also reference promotional expenditures tied to the 800 plus program, which was organized in connection with the so-called 800 plus picnics. The statement mentions actions by former Ministry of Justice leadership under the Justice Fund, which the National Electoral Commission would need to assess, as well as activities conducted by the Scientific and Academic Computer Network NASK, including methods used to prepare online reports in 2022–2023 and the related assessment of the credibility of law and justice.
“Very bad documents”
Ryszard Kalisz, a member of the National Electoral Commission, criticized on Radio Three that the commission lacks the tools to question witnesses or to collect evidence. He emphasized that the commission had received “very poor” documents from the prosecutor’s office.
He offered an example: a half-page note from the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office indicating that an investigation was underway for a suspected offense under Article 231 of the Criminal Code, pointing out that the document did not name the then head of RCL, Krzysztof Szczucki, because the prosecutor’s office had not opened an investigation against him. The question followed: what relevance does this have to the election campaign, and would it serve as evidence in this context?
— Kalisz spoke with the journalist about these questions.
gah/PAP
Source: wPolityce