The Bureau of Research of the Sejm informed on Friday that, during August 11 session of the lower house, it had not received a request for legal analysis of vote repetition from Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek. The bureau added that "oral consultations are not subject to registration". The statement was issued in response to MP Tomasz Zimoch's request. Earlier on, Speaker Witek had said that "a discussion and oral consultation" had taken place in her office.
During a Sejm session on August 11, at which the so-called lex-TVN was adopted, a controversial repetition of a vote over session postponement took place. At first, the lower house approved this motion, but after a break - extended multiple times - the Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek (PiS) ordered a repetition of the vote, which was backed by 229 MPs, with one vote against and one abstention. The Sejm, therefore, decided not to postpone the session.
Justifying her decision to repeat the ballot, Speaker Witek said she had asked five lawyers for their opinion on the matter. A few days later, the Sejm Information Centre (CIS) published opinions Witek was supposed to have requested. All five opinions date back to April 2018. The house speaker herself showed them in an interview for state-owned public television.
Bureau of Research: Speaker Witek did not request such opinion
The Sejm Bureau of Research (BAS) answered a question on Friday regarding circumstances surrounding the decision on the vote repetition. It was asked by Poland 2050 MP Tomasz Zimoch.
The lawmaker asked "if during Sejm session recess on August 11 the Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek had contacted the Bureau of Research", and "if during this recess the Bureau of Research had been asked for an opinion", and if it had, then on what exactly.
In its answer, the BAS said Elżbieta Witek had not requested such decision.
"At the same time it should be mentioned that oral consultations are not subject to registration," the bureau added.
Witek: there was a discussion and oral consultation
Elżbieta Witek mentioned oral consultations during Wednesday's press conference at which she once again tried to explain her decisions from August 11.
Speaking about the lawyers who were said to have advised her during the recess, she said: "They were clerks, employees of the Bureau of Research, as well as of the Speaker's Office. I don't think I should mention their names publicly, as they aren't public figures," Witek argued.
"That day, the BAS couldn't issue a written opinion in half an hour. Those opinions were issued later, they are available online. That day, there was a discussion and oral consultation," Witek added.
She also said the opinions she had cited in an interview for state-controlled public TV and published by the CIS had been "an addition", so that she could get acquainted with them. "I made a sovereign decision after hearing opinions of my lawyers here at the Sejm, as well as those in writing, which were prepared in case of vote repetition. It did not change, the rules did not change," the Sejm Speaker said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24