The PKW issued its guidance on Tuesday night, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Poles will head to the ballot box on October 15 to elect 460 new MPs and 100 senators for a four-year term. Additionally, voters have been asked to cast their ballots in a nationwide referendum on the same day on issues including illegal migration.
Both the election campaign and the referendum campaign will officially conclude at midnight on Friday, October 13, the State Electoral Commission said.
From then on, until the end of voting on Sunday, any form of electoral or referendum campaigning is banned, including rallies, marches, speeches and advertising, the PKW said.
It added: “Breaches of these bans could be punished as a criminal offence, according to an assessment by law enforcement agencies and courts.”
The PKW called on the public “to refrain from any actions that could be classified as electoral campaigning and referendum campaigning in the period when they are banned.”
Under Polish law, encouraging the public to take part in elections does not constitute electoral campaigning as such, and is thus permitted during the "campaign silence" period, provided it is conducted by entities that do not take part in elections and is free from any campaigning content, the PAP news agency reported.
However, any such activities conducted by political parties constitute a breach of campaign silence, the PKW warned.
Ban on opinion polls
Moreover, campaign silence also means a ban on the publication of opinion polls, the PAP news agency reported.
All these rules also apply online, the PKW cautioned.
A breach of the ban on campaigning is punishable by a fine of between PLN 500,000 (EUR 110,000) and PLN 1 million (EUR 220,000), according to officials.
“Any instances of illegal campaigning should be reported to police or the prosecution service,” the PKW said.
Poland to elect new parliament on October 15
Poles will head to the ballot box to vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday. They will elect 460 new MPs and 100 senators for a four-year term.
Seeking a third term in power, the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party appears to be running ahead of an opposition divided into separate blocs.
Poles to vote in referendum
In August, Poland's lawmakers approved a plan to combine parliamentary elections with a nationwide referendum asking Poles whether their country should accept migrants from the Middle East and Africa, whether state companies can be sold to foreign buyers, whether the retirement age should be increased, and whether a wall on Poland's border with Belarus should be dismantled.
The ruling conservatives have encouraged people to cast their ballots in the referendum, while the opposition has asked voters to boycott it, saying the referendum questions are worded in a biased way and contain misleading information designed to boost support for the government.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, PKW
