One of the major political battles taking place in Poland right now is the issue of campaign funding, with the government working to freeze out millions of euros worth of funds that are supposed to go to the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party despite court orders and a ruling from the National Electoral Commission.
In short, the ruling left-liberal government has gone rogue and essentially locking their rivals out of public funding in a complete violation of the rule of law.
Now, a new poll from IBRiS for Rzeczpospolita shows what Poles think should be done about the issue, with 47.1 percent of Poles saying that the government should honor the decision of the National Electoral Commission, a slight edge over the 46.9 percent who think the government should withhold the money. Another 6 percent have no opinion on the matter.
Notably, a majority of Third Way and Left Party voters want the funds to be paid out to PiS.
At a meeting on Dec. 30, the National Electoral Commission implemented a decision of the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court (IKNiSP), adopting the financial report of the PiS committee for the 2023 parliamentary elections. However, it indicated that it did not decide whether IKNiSP is acutally even a court.
Financial warfare against PiS
Earlier, in August 2024, the National Electoral Commission rejected the financial report of the PiS electoral committee from these elections, citing irregularities in the spending of campaign funds in the amount of PLN 3.6 million (€844,000).
As a result, PiS suffered financially. The one-time subsidy for the party, the so-called election refund of approximately PLN 38 million, was reduced by three times the amount in which irregularities were found, amounting to PLN 10.8 million (€2.5 million). The annual subsidy from the state budget for the activities of Jarosław Kaczyński’s party, amounting to less than PLN 26 million, was reduced by the same amount.
In addition, PiS was ordered to return PLN 3.6 million to the State Treasury. PiS appealed this decision to the Supreme Court. The appeal was handled by the aforementioned Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, which ruled in favor of PiS.
In early January, the Polish minister of finance sent a letter to the National Electoral Commission regarding the aforementioned resolution of Dec. 30, approving the financial report of the PiS committee from the 2023 elections. In this letter, Andrzej Domański asked the National Electoral Commission to interpret the resolution, i.e., to clarify doubts regarding its content. In his opinion, the National Electoral Commission adopted a resolution with internally contradictory and conditional content.
The fate of money for Jarosław Kaczyński’s party is at stake
In response to this letter, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, asked the minister of finance to immediately indicate the legal basis for his request for the interpretation of the National Electoral Commission resolution.
Politicians of the ruling coalition are questioning the status of judges sitting in the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. Andrzej Domański himself is refraining from paying funds to PiS, although in theory the resolution of the National Electoral Commission approving the PiS report on the parliamentary elections obliges him to do so.
