Polish electoral body says former ruling party violated campaign rules, imposes penalty
By The Associated Press on August 29, 2024.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland’s electoral authority said Thursday that the former ruling right-wing party violated campaign funding rules in the 2023 parliamentary vote, and imposed a penalty worth millions of dollars that would undercut the party’s resources for next year’s presidential election. The State Electoral Commission said that the campaign of the Law and Justice party, which ruled Poland from 2015-2023 and is now the main opposition force, improperly took 3.6 million zlotys ($930,000) in public money. The commission ordered the conservative party to pay back that amount, and it also ordered a cut in the party’s government subsidies for the coming years, amounting to about 10 million zlotys ($2.5 million ) per year. The penalties, which are subject to appeal, would significantly reduce the party’s resources for the 2025 presidential election, in which it will seek to maintain its control of that office. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, speaking before the ruling was announced, had said any such decision would reflect political revenge by the current government against its predecessor and would spell the end of democracy in Poland. He said the commission was acting under pressure from the current centrist and pro-European Union government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The Law and Justice party is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, where it still holds some control. The court’s verdict would be binding. 8-7
