Former ruling PiS party to lose tens of millions of zloty over campaign spending violations

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as further information becomes available

Poland’s electoral commission has rejected the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s financial report on its campaign for last year’s parliamentary elections, when PiS was seeking to win a third term in office but ended up losing power to a new coalition.

The decision – which came after over 3 million zloty (€700,000) of irregular spending by PiS was identified – means that the party will lose around 60 million zloty in public subsidies as a punishment.

The news was welcomed by the current ruling camp, which says PiS deserves punishment for using state funds and institutions to boost its campaign in violation of the electoral code. PiS has condemned the decision – which it can still appeal against – as being made at the political behest of the government.

PKW: PiS pozbawione subwencji na trzy lata; dotacja PiS pomniejszona o 10 mln zł.(PAP)#PAPinformacje pic.twitter.com/sxVUEZOoeX

— PAP (@PAPinformacje) August 29, 2024

Under Polish law, political parties that win at least 3% of the vote in parliamentary elections – or coalitions that achieve at least 6% – receive state subsidies to help fund their activities.

However, before those subsidies are confirmed, the National Electoral Commission (PKW) must issue opinions after elections regarding each party’s campaign spending report. At a meeting today, the PKW voted to reject PiS’s financial report.

PKW chairman Sylwest Marciniak confirmed that, as a result, the one-off subsidy of 38 million zloty that PiS was expected to receive to cover the election campaign costs would be reduced by 10 million zloty (three times the amount of irregular spending identified).

International @OSCE observers have reported that Poland’s elections were an „uneven playing field” because the ruling party “enjoyed a clear advantage through its undue influence over the use of state resources and the public media” https://t.co/pZBE7UXvAR

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 17, 2023

Even more damagingly, Marciniak announced that the annual state subsidy PiS would have received over the next three years before the 2027 parliamentary elections would be withheld entirely.

He said that, in combination with the abovementioned 10 million zloty, the party would lose around 60 million zloty in total, reports news website Onet.

Marciniak revealed that the PKW had been split in its decision, with five members voting to reject PiS’s financial report, three voting to accept it and one – Marciniak himself – abstaining.

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According to Polish media reports, the majority of the irregularly spent funds identified by the PKW (around 2.6 million zloty) was spent by the justice ministry on a video that was broadcast during the election campaign.

It featured the then-head of the ministry, Zbigniew Ziobro, saying that a toughening of the criminal code had made Poland “one of the safest places in Europe” and that “Poland must remain safe”.

Another irregular expense reportedly identified by the PKW was almost 200,000 zloty spent by the Government Legislation Centre (RCL) on paying seven members of staff who, rather than working for the RCL, devoted themselves to the election campaign of the centre’s president, PiS candidate Krzysztof Szczucki.

A further finding was that the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK), a state institute, was used during the campaign to provide reports on how certain topics – including the “credibility of PiS” – were being perceived and discussed on social media.

Today was the third time that the PKW had met to try to reach a decision on PiS’s campaign finances. It was initially expected to issue its opinion in July, but twice delayed the decision.

Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, the PKW’s chairman, Sylwester Marciniak, noted that the commission had been “inundated” with a huge number of notifications from state institutions, government ministries and individual MPs alleging unlawful spending by PiS. Even now they were continuing to arrive, he added.

Yesterday, two politicians from the current ruling coalition, Dariusz Joński and Michał Szczerba, said that they had identified and notified the electoral commission of almost 23.4 million zloty (€5.4 million) in “illegal financing of the PiS election campaign”.

The PKW’s decision was today welcomed by deputy prime minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who said it showed that if you “run an election campaign on steroids, fill the party coffers with public money, use the state for political sponsorship – ALL THIS MEANS THAT YOU ARE ACTING ILLEGALLY!!”.

Słuszna decyzja PKW‼️

Realizujesz kampanię wyborczą na sterydach, doładowujesz partyjną kasę publicznymi pieniędzmi, wykorzystujesz państwo do sponsoringu politycznego – TO WSZYSTKO OZNACZA, ŻE DZIAŁASZ NIELEGALNIE‼️

PiS traci kasę, a Państwo zaczyna działać wg najwyższych…

— Krzysztof Gawkowski (@KGawkowski) August 29, 2024

However, PiS argues that it is being accused of wrongdoing for actions that other parties have also conducted without punishment. It claims that the government is using the PKW to unlawfully attack the opposition party.

“Everything indicates that we are being treated differently than other entities operating on the Polish political scene,” said Mariusz Błaszczak, the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus today, before the PKW’s decision was issued. “This is a scandal and in itself is a violation of the law.”

After news of the PKW’s decision emerged, former PiS Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that it “part of the political game of the current government, whose goal is the marginalisation of the opposition” and “destruction of democracy”. He pledged that his party would “take legal action”.

Decyzja PKW ws. sprawozdania finansowego PiS jest haniebna. Wpisuje się w rozgrywkę polityczną obecnej władzy, której celem jest zemsta i marginalizacja opozycji.

Chodzi rzecz jasna o przyszłoroczne wybory prezydenckie. Obecna władza chce nas osłabić, bo obawia się przegranej.…

— Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) August 29, 2024

If PiS does decide to appeal against the PKW’s decision, that could create further legal questions. Under legislation introduced by PiS while it was in power, such appeals would be considered by the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs.

However, that chamber has been found to not be a legitimate body by the Court of Justice of the European Union because it is staffed by unlawfully appointed judges. The current government does not recognise its legitimacy.

During its time in power from 2015 to 2023, PiS was regularly accused of using state funds and institutions for its own political benefit, including during election campaigns.

Public broadcasters were used to praise the government and attack the opposition. Earlier this year, the justice ministry published an interactive map showing how its funds were allegedly used under the former government to promote PiS-linked election candidates.

The justice ministry has published an interactive map showing how, under the former government, money intended to support victims of crime was instead seemingly used to boost the election campaigns of candidates from the party that controlled the ministry https://t.co/cFvYbqRUYV

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 29, 2024

Main image credit: Pawel Malecki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.