Before Polish election, Council of Europe raised concerns about electoral abuses

A delegation from the Council of Europe expressed concerns about the fairness of the Polish electoral process as the incumbent Law and Justice (PiS) party faces its tightest election campaign since 2015, with a possibility of losing.

A group of parliamentarians from France, Germany, Austria, Romania, and the United Kingdom visited Poland under the auspices of the Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based human rights organisation.

They issued a report on September 28 following the visit, citing a “heated and polarised campaign environment.”

“I was astonished by the abusive language between the different political parties. The degree of hostility is high. Some politicians accuse each other of being foreign agents, either about Germany or Russia,” Mireille Clapot, French MP and delegation head, told Euractiv.

Pro-EU Civic Platform party leader candidate and former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted a video on X mocking current Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s language lapsus.

The ruling PiS party released a short film on YouTube as part of their strategy, implying that Tusk is a German agent seeking to raise the retirement age of Poles while portraying Deputy Prime Minister and de facto PiS leader Jarosaw Kaczyski as a defender of the Polish people seeking a referendum on the issue.

Parallel referendums in Polish elections

The Law and Justice party decided to ask four simultaneous referendum issues to Poles during the general elections on October 15.

Aside from being criticised for being loaded questions or “intended to circumvent campaign financing regulations,” as the Council of Europe delegation notes, the referendum procedure can threaten democracy.

The referendum will only be valid if 50% of Polish voters participate. As a result, many Poles who oppose the Law and Justice party may be persuaded to remain silent.

However, people who refuse to collect ballot boxes will likely be non-PiS supporters and may experience intimidation at the polling place.

Counting the votes of Poles living abroad

The delegation also mentioned the “voting process for Polish citizens living abroad.” Indeed, Warsaw is the only municipality to collect votes from Poles residing abroad, and the results must be submitted to the National Election Commission within 24 hours.

The deadline has been criticised in Poland by Commissioner for Human Rights Marcin Wiącek, calling the new rule a disenfranchise from Poles abroad and therefore infringing the Polish Constitution.

Some think that the new restriction is an attempt to avoid counting foreign votes cast by Poles, who tend to vote for the opposition rather than the ruling PiS party, as evidenced by the results of the 2020 Presidential elections.

Independence of the media

The delegation from the Council of Europe also mentioned “unbalanced media coverage by public outlets.”

Indeed, there is worry that the ruling PiS party has been attempting for several years to propagate their conservative message through national radio and television broadcasters (Polskie Radio and TVP).

Furthermore, the state-owned oil corporation PKN Orlen has acquired the media conglomerate Polska Press, which includes dozens of local Polish newspapers, since December 2020. According to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the acquisition impacted journalistic independence in Poland.

Radio Maryja, a religious and conservative Polish radio station popular among older people, particularly women, got significant governmental funding.

The program also frequently invites PiS politicians who support the radio, while the station portrays PiS policy as the only correct one.