"I know absolutely nothing about this case". OSCE mission not let inside PiS rally

Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński visited the northwestern city of Szczecin on Saturday (Sept.23). However, not everyone was let in to the meeting with the ruling party chief. In that group were observers from the OSCE mission to Poland, who are to monitor the upcoming parliamentary election as well as the election campaign.

Members of the ruling camp did not want to comment on this case. "I don't know this case, frankly speaking, I don't know anything about it. It's hard for me to comment on something I have no knowledge about," said Deputy Finance Minister Artur Soboń.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro responded in a similar vein. "I know absolutely nothing about this case so I wouldn't like to comment. However, the essence of the OSCE mission is to check if the election are carried out properly in terms of of the election committees, whether there isn't any fraud. I'm not sure if it's the OSCE role to take part in election rallies. But I wouldn't like to comment on it because I don't know anything about this case," the minister told a press conference.

The Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek did not even answer the question asked by a TVN24 reporter.

Opposition MPs had much more to say about this situation. Civic Coalition MP Grzegorz Schetyna said "PiS closes up, hides from the public opinion, from voters". "They hold many party rallies and tick off attendance lists. Not letting in OSCE representatives is truly appalling bacause it suggests to Europe and the free world that PiS wants to hide something, doesn't want to speak about something, and tries to conceal something from the observers' eyes," he added.

"It would be bad if this campaign looked like this until the end and if the election looked like this. We are all for full transparency of the campaign and election. This pertains to all parties, but to the ruling party in particular," Schetyna underscored.

MP Tomasz Trela of the New Left said that "Jarosław Kaczyński is trying hide the way of running the election campaign". "He invites only his people to rallies, and not only his people from the place the rally is held in, but also those brought over there in buses," he added.

"There are emotions, screaming and shouting, insulting the opposition, and those meetings are guarded. If OSCE representatives went there and witnessed police cordons and the general atmosphere, they would write in a report that Jarosław Kaczyński is pursuing an unlawful election campaign and tries to keep everyone from finding out," Trela said.

The MP also said that "the OSCE members, who around the world and are being let into election rallies and election committees, have witnesses the true face of the PiS government". "A non-transparent, shady, fraudulent government that tries to conceal the truth," he added.