A parliamentary commission probing the plan to hold elections by postal vote during the COVID-19 pandemic said on Thursday it had voted to file 12 criminal notices to prosecutors against several high-ranking officials, including Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the then-ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), and the prime minister at the time, Mateusz Morawiecki.
Jarosław Kaczyński (pictured), the leader of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party and a former deputy prime minister, told the parliamentary panel in May that the idea to hold a postal vote in 2020 seemed reasonable to him because Poland was under a strict lockdown regime at the time. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
The committee alleges that the officials colluded to commit criminal offenses during the organizing of Poland's postal voting system for the 2020 presidential election.
Among those implicated are Jacek Sasin, a former deputy prime minister and minister for state assets, and his deputies Tomasz Szczegielniak and Artur Soboń, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The list also includes Michał Dworczyk, chief of staff to Morawiecki, former Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek, and ex-Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński.
In addition, former members of the management boards of Poczta Polska, the state-run postal operator, and the Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW) are also suspected of criminal activity.
These include Tomasz Zdzikot, Grzegorz Kurdziel, Tomasz Cicirko, Paweł Przychodzeń, Andrzej Bodziony, and Tomasz Janko from Poczta Polska, along with Maciej Biernat, Piotr Ciompa, and Tomasz Sztanga, the PAP news agency reported.
The commission said it also plans to file criminal notices against former Digitalization Minister Marek Zagórski and the former head of the Office for Personal Data Protection, Jan Nowak.
Former conservative PM 'risked breaking the law,' MP says
Commenting on Morawiecki's actions, commission member Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic said the former prime minister "proclaimed himself as the authority entitled to issue commands related to the process of conducting the presidential election in Poland."
Kucharska, who is a lawmaker with the Left group, added that "there is also much to suggest" that government bodies generally abused the regulations introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the organization of the elections was just one such example.
"The commission believes that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki risked breaking the law, fully aware of the risks associated with his actions, especially since these risks and the potential liability of the prime minister were highlighted in an opinion from the legal department of the Prime Minister's Office, about which the prime minister should have been informed by his chief of staff, Michał Dworczyk," Kucharska-Dziedzic said.
'Desire to conduct elections at all costs'
Commission head Magdalena Filiks emphasized "the gravity of Jarosław Kaczyński's involvement," describing him as the "instigating perpetrator" in the decision-making process for conducting the presidential election via postal voting.
"Kaczyński's role within the United Right coalition was unlimited, despite him being merely a rank-and-file member of parliament at that time," she said. "His power and decisive effectiveness allowed him to discipline both board members and coalition partners."
Filiks added: "The evidence collected indicates that Jarosław Kaczyński, as a member of the ruling party, did not possess any of the powers that the Polish constitution grants to the lower-house Speaker or the prime minister ... As a member of parliament, a public official, he exceeded his authority, using his position as the leader of Law and Justice."
Filiks also argued that "Kaczyński's actions did not serve to protect the public interest, but were detrimental to it."
She continued: "The only motivation for Jarosław Kaczyński's actions was his desire to conduct the elections at all costs and to maintain Andrzej Duda's presidency."
Commission members now have 21 days to submit any proposals for alterations to the panel's final report. In September, the committee will reconvene to review any proposed amendments, approve the report, and vote on submitting its conclusions to prosecutors.
The commission in December began investigating steps taken by Poland's previous conservative administration to hold the 2020 presidential elections in the form of postal voting amid the pandemic.
The inquiry was launched after the lower house of Poland's parliament, the Sejm, on December 7 voted unanimously to set up a special panel to investigate suspected irregularities.
The presidential election was initially scheduled to take place on May 10, 2020, in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The conservative Law and Justice government made preparations for a postal ballot, arguing that it could be held safely despite a rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Election monitors, opposition candidates and EU officials criticized the plan, saying the decision to change electoral law allowing for the mail vote was rushed and could prevent the ballot from being free and fair, according to reports at the time.
The plan to hold the election on May 10 through the state postal service rather than National Electoral Commission (PKW) was eventually abandoned, and the ballot was conducted via a mixed system of postal and traditional in-person voting in two rounds, in June and July, resulting in a second term for incumbent Andrzej Duda.
The current government says the preparations for the mail-in vote, including the printing of postal ballots that were never used, cost public coffers up to PLN 100 million (around EUR 23.5 million, USD 25.5 million).
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters
