The National Electoral Commission issued a negative opinion on Thursday regarding one of the election protests submitted by the ruling Law and Justice party. "We have found the accusations included in the protest insufficient to repeat the vote in this constituency," the PKW chief Wiesław Kozielewicz informed. The opinion pertains to Senate election in constituency number 75.
The PKW chairman told journalists the Commission has issued an opinion on Thursday on one of the election protests submitted by PiS.
"We call for not pursuing this protest any further. We find the accusations included in this protest as insufficient to repeat the vote in this constituency," Kozielewicz said.
The chief of the National Electoral Office (KBW), Magdalena Pietrzak, informed journalists that the opinion issued on Thursday pertains to constituency number 75 in the Senate election.
The said constituency is in the Silesian Voivodeship - seat in the Senate was won here by the Deputy Chairwoman of Wiosna (Spring) party, Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka (the Left committee). She received 64.172 votes, while PiS candidate Czesław Ryszka secured 61.823 votes.
Judge Kozielewicz also stressed that the opinion by the PKW is not binding for the Supreme Court.
Respect for Supreme Court ruling
Asked about the PKW's opinion, Deputy PM Jarosław Gowin said at a press conference in the Sejm that "it's the best proof that the PKW's decision and the future decision by the Supreme Court will be completely independent". "Poland is a democratic country, a rule of law country," he added.
"Each political party and each candidate have the right to submit election protests. If the court finds them justified, then they will justified, if not, then we will have simply used our right. It's the same as appealing against any administrative decision, scholarship decision, university admission, which is my former area, there are many different options when it comes to appealing against. Nevertheless, we will respect any decision taken by the Supreme Court in that regard," said the government's spokesman, Piotr Müller, who had been Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education in the past.
The spokesman underscored that Law and Justice has filed the protest based on a premise that there had been a significant number of invalid votes.
Müller pointed out that there had been cases, for instance, when the committee incorrectly filled out election protocols. "These things simply happen, and we exercise our rights, and if it turns out that everything was all right, then we shall treat this issue as covered," he added.
By Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court (SN) received 112 election protests - Krzysztof Michałowski from the SN press office informed. He added that seven of them had already been examined.
The Supreme Court also announced that no factual decisions were taken in regard to the seven protests, and marked them as requiring "no further consideration", pointing out that they had been submitted before the statutory period.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24