After the local government elections in Poland in 2018, the adopted solutions aimed at increasing the security of the elections were reviewed. Some of the solutions adopted so far have been abandoned, such as transmissions from the polling station, while others have been minimized (the division of the precinct electoral commissions in the precinct electoral commission for voting in the region and the precinct electoral commission for determining the results of voting in the region). In public opinion polls, the National Electoral Commission achieved record of confidence.

Non-electoral tasks of the National Electoral Commission

Apart from its main functions connected with preparing and holding elections, the National Electoral Commission has to fulfill many other tasks entrusted to it both by the Election Code and by many other acts. Therefore, we can divide these tasks into two categories: the tasks of an electoral nature and the tasks of a non-electoral nature. The article presents the tasks carried out by the National Electoral Commission in the non-electoral sphere. Among them there are also particularly significant issues connected with financing the politics, both in terms of considering the reports of political parties and electoral committees. The wide scope of tasks performed by the National Electoral Commission, including those that have a direct impact on the shaping of Polish democratic system substantiate the thesis about the necessity of constitutionalization of the National Electoral Commission.

The problem of the grounds and procedure for rejecting the financial statements of the election committee

Financial statement is an important element in checking the compliant financing of an election campaign. According to the Election Code, the financial representative of the election committee should submit to the election body to which the election committee previously submitted a notification of its establishment, a financial report on the committee’s revenues, expenses and liabilities, including bank loans obtained and loans conditions. In this situation, the financial statement may be submitted to the National Electoral Commission as well as to other election bodies. However, if the report was rejected by the election commissioner, the financial representative may appeal against such decision to the District Court. Judicial practice shows that it was disputed whether a complaint could be brought in a situation where the report was accepted, but at the same time the identified shortcomings were identified. The content of the obligatory statutory grounds for rejecting the report was also questioned.

Procedure of Nominating Candidates in Elections for the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland

The article analyzes the procedure of nominating candidates for the office of the President of the Republic of Poland. The provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Code were assessed. The analysis of the elections to the office of the President in Poland indicates that the requirement to collect 100,000 signatures of citizens who have the right to vote for the Sejm is not difficult to reach. As a result, candidates with low public support, who receive less than 100,000 votes, participate in the election of the President. At the same time, election practice shows that there is a lot of irregularities during collecting the signatures. This problem was repeatedly pointed out by the National Electoral Commission The article ends with proposals to amend the Electoral Code aimed at clarifying the rules for collecting signatures of support and introducing an election deposit.

Postulates of the National Electoral Commission Regarding the Desired Direction of Changes to the Electoral Code

The aim of this article is to make a critical analysis of the postulates for amending the Electoral Code, proposed by the National Electoral Commission. We can agree with a large part of the above postulates, although their final normative shape will be of key importance in this case. However, there are also some proposals that can be considered at least debatable. First of all, this concerns the postulate to abandon the judicial composition of district electoral commissions, because even despite doubts as to the legality of the appointment of judges with the participation of the unconstitutional composition of the National Council of the Judiciary, guarantees of judicial independence are also a safeguard against politicization of the composition of subsequent election administration bodies. Anyway, it is worth emphasizing that the NEC’s proposals were in practice intended to constitute a form of justification for introducing changes contrary to the fundamental principles of electoral law, which took place in the winter of 2023.

Nacional Electoral Commission – History and Present Day

This paper aims at sectional presenting of the evolution of the National Electoral Commission (PKW) as the highest and the only permanent election commission in Poland – from the interwar period to the modern times. For that reason, this paper enumerates the members of the first polish National Electoral Commission which was constituted by the regulations of the Electoral System to Sejm of the Republic of Poland of 1922 as well as the way of appointing of PKW in the consecutive electoral statutes. Furthermore, during analysing of the personel of PKW, the author references to the provisions of Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters adopted by the Venice Commission. The main conclusion of this paper is that contemporary and historical structure of the personal composition of PKW are very similar to each other.

Gloss to the Decision of the Supreme Court of September 7, 2023, file ref. no. I NSW 15/23

On 7 September 2023, the Polish Supreme Court issued a decision on the complaint filed under Art. 161a Polish Electoral Code to the information from the National Electoral Commission of 30 August 2023, regarding the scope of powers of persons of trust and social election observers. Based on the decision of the Supreme Court, there are two fundamental issues that require consideration. Firstly, is the position of the Supreme Court correct, according to which the information of the NEC of 30 August 2023, which does not have the form of a resolution of the NEC, may be treated as an act subject to appeal under Art. 161a E.C. Secondly, does the Supreme Court rightly conclude that pursuant to Art. 103b § 1 point 1 of the E.C. in connection with Art. 103c § 2 of the E.C. it can be concluded that persons of trust and social observers have the right to observe other activities of district electoral commissions apart from the procedure of adopting voting protocols, determining voting and election results and preparing protocols. In order to find answers to the above questions, a formal legal method was used and the achievements of case law and literature were analyzed.