Polish Supreme Court delays decision amid election protest and vote counting errors
Without further proceedings, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 10, left undecided the first 7 out of 39 protests filed so far regarding the recent presidential elections.
A citizen-led petition demanding a full recount of votes in Poland’s June 1 presidential runoff election has gathered over 282, 823 signatures till Tuesday afternoon.Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
The Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court left 7 complaints without consideration concerning irregularities during the organization and conduct of the second round of the presidential elections in Poland.
The complaints were assessed by the Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court, which is contested by the Civic Coalition currently ruling in Poland.
In the complaints submitted to the Supreme Court, voters accuse a wide range of irregularities and errors in the election protocols that may affect the final verdict of the voters.
By Tuesday afternoon, over 283,000 people had signed the petition for a recount of the votes.
Protests can be submitted until next Monday, June 16.
Polish PKW prepares election report and calls for reporting irregularities
On Monday afternoon, June 9, the National Electoral Commission (PKW) issued a brief statement indicating that it is currently preparing a report based on information received from district electoral commissions.
“Within 14 days of the public announcement of the election results, the National Electoral Commission submits a report on the elections to the Speaker of the Sejm and the Supreme Court,” confirmed the statement, signed by PKW Chair Sylwester Marciniak, who also urged people to report any irregularities.
“The National Electoral Commission emphasizes that anyone who has knowledge of an election-related crime should notify the prosecutor or the police,” the statement added.
Scandal during presidential election in Poland. Switched votes in electoral commissions
For several days, the media have been reporting controversies related to vote counting in some electoral commissions during Sunday’s second round of the presidential election.
For example, in Electoral Commission No. 95 at Stawowa Street in Kraków, southern Poland, votes cast in the second round of the presidential election were mistakenly reversed.
Votes for the pro-European centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski from the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) were incorrectly assigned to Karol Nawrocki, who is supported by the right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
An opposite incident occurred in Mińsk Mazowiecki, located in the east-central part of Poland.
The city authorities addressed the matter in a statement, noting that a serious error occurred while determining the voting results in Electoral Commission No. 13 in that city. The protocol contained incorrect data – the results of the two candidates were swapped.
Polish electoral errors unlikely to change presidential result
“The actual vote count shows Rafał Trzaskowski received 611 votes (62.73%), while Karol Nawrocki received 363 votes (37.27%),” the statement reads. Authorities in Mińsk Mazowiecki also reported that the commission chairman admitted to an error when filling out the protocol. The other nine commission members did not report any irregularities. “The matter may be referred to the prosecutor’s office,” the statement added.
Media reports suggest irregularities might have occurred in about a dozen other commissions. However, these mistakes are not expected to affect the final outcome, as the lead between the two candidates exceeds 369,000 votes.
Data from the National Electoral Commission (PKW) shows Nawrocki received 10,606,877 votes, compared to Trzaskowski’s 10,237,286. As said before, over 283,000 people had signed the petition for a recount of the votes till Tuesday afternoon.
(mp)
Source: PKW/PAP/IAR/facebook.com/MiastoMinskMazowiecki/news.krk
