2024-08-30 15:06 update: 2024-08-30, 21:45
Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has commended the decision of the National Electoral Commission (PKW) to reject the report on the financing of the 2023 election campaign of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, now the main opposition.
After Thursday’s meeting of the PKW regarding the financial reports of election committees from the parliamentary election that took place on October 15, 2023, PKW reported that PiS, the previous government party, may be deprived of subsidies for three years due to irregularities found in the financing of its election campaign before last year's general vote.
Following the meeting, the head of the PKW, Sylwester Marciniak, told a press conference that the commission had decided to reject the PiS report due to the fact that according to the PKW, PiS illegally spent PLN 3.6 million (EUR 840,510) on the 2023 campaign.
Tusk addressed this issue, while speaking to journalists during a press conference on Friday.
"We all knew what was happening during the election campaign," he said, "how PiS used public funds and opportunities stemming from being in power directly for the benefit of the election campaign."
He added that various institutions and officials put in a lot of effort in order to formally document the abuses of power committed by PiS, that is to provide all the documents that "describe all the things that were clearly visible."
"With great satisfaction, I can say that this work, which involved a thorough documentation of these PiS offences, has paid off," he said. "The verdict of the PKW could hardly be any different considering such damning evidence."
"One last thing," he added, "this isn't a problem that concerns only Poland. In fact, if a government, which was widely known to have been doing bad things, isn't held responsible after the transition of power, then that is devastating to democracy as a whole." (PAP)
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