The panel on Tuesday elected Dariusz Joński of the governing Civic Coalition (KO) group as its head, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The lower house of Poland's parliament, the Sejm, voted unanimously on December 7 to set up a special parliamentary commission to investigate suspected irregularities, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
Joński on Tuesday said the panel would convene on Friday to decide initial steps and name the first witnesses to be heard.
The lawmaker said the commission would "act swiftly and accurately" based on "facts and documents."
Joński declared the panel would "take all steps to establish whether Poland's authorities committed a breach of the law while working to hold the 2020 presidential election as a postal vote."
The parliamentary inquiry is set to examine steps taken by Poland's previous conservative government to hold the 2020 presidential elections in the form of postal voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland's 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 (PiS) 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 criticised 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, the Reuters news agency reported.
The plan to hold the election on May 10 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.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
