Competitive advantage of political parties financed by the state budget in Poland

The article concerns the principles of financing of political parties in Poland. The thesis about creating a competitive advantage of the parties financed from the state budget over other parties was verified. An analysis of the amount of subsidies and other funds paid to eligible political parties was carried out. Particular attention was paid to the domination of funds from the budget over other sources of finance of the largest political parties. In conclusion, it was proposed to significantly limit the statutory subsidy and, as a consequence, replace it with voluntary taxation of citizens.

Levellers and Universal Manhood Suffrage During the Putney Dabates (1647)

This is a review article. Its purpose is to present the findings of researchers on the English Levellers’ attitude to universal manhood suffrage, especially during the Putney Debates (1647). This issue is not clear and the dispute of researchers has been going on since the 1960s. The aim of the article is to present the findings on this issue contained in the important English studies on Levellers. The article presents the results of research that allows to answer the questions: whether the Levellers really supported the universal manhood suffrage, or were they therefore unconditional democrats? and why despite the success achieved during the Putney Debates the electoral reform proposed by them did not gain broad support.

The Principle of Equality in Elections to Bodies of Self- Governments of Public Trust Professions

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the constitutional principles relating to elections to public authorities should mutatis mutandis be the benchmark for elections to the bodies of self-government of public trust professions. The principle of equality of the electoral law is of particular importance in this area. The analysis has been carried out on the basis of the Polish Constitution, the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal and the laws and internal acts regarding professional self-governments. It follows that a breach of the principle of equality in the internal acts of a professional self-government may be grounds for declaring them unlawful. Whereas, laws concerning these self-governments should enable the scrutiny of elections. The considerations lead to the conclusion that topics combining the position of professional self-governments and democratic standards of the election law can be a field of interesting research in the domain of constitutional law.

The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Poland and, consequently, the introduction of the epidemic on March 20, 2020, influenced the decision not to hold the election of the President of the Republic of Poland scheduled for May 10, 2020. Therefore, in the face of objective difficulties in the organization of elections, a new voting deadline was set on June 28, 2020. Due to the prevailing global pandemic, the elections for the President of the Republic of Poland, ordered in 2020 with the possibility of postal voting, were conducted and prepared in exceptional circumstances. With this in mind, this article presents a number of various problems, and even limitations, of the electoral rights granted to each voter, which have become a consequence of the legal solutions introduced without in-depth analysis, often in a hurry. 1

In recent years, Armenia and Georgia have carried out constitutional reforms bringing about a radical change in their respective political systems with a shift to a parliamentary model of government. To permanently democratize both countries, the role of presidents in political systems was weakened and their election was introduced indirectly. The paper discusses the main elements of presidential electoral law in both countries with their main similarities and differences. In Armenia, the president is elected by the parliament, while in Georgia by a special electoral body. The following paper argues that the constitutional reforms in both countries are intended to prevent crises of power caused by an excessive concentration of power in the hands of presidents, although the reforms do not provide a guarantee of genuine democratisation and authoritarstability of governments. The possible outcomes of the reforms can be different: in Armenia – the increase of the dependence of the president on the main political parties, in Georgia – strengthening his independence.

The Right to Vote for Non-Residents

The article deals with the possibility for country’s non-citizen residents to participate in elections, in the political life they wish to participate in. This issue remains outside the mainstream of jurisprudence and doctrine, but it is important due to the increased social mobility. The article presents the practice of selected countries and documents of international law relating to the title issue. Theoretical and comparative issues were confronted with Polish solutions regulating voting issues of Polish citizens residing abroad. The article also contains proposals for necessary legislative changes, the introduction of which to the electoral code will guarantee respect for the universality of electoral law. The article uses the legal-dogmatic method, supplemented to the necessary extent by the legal-comparative method.

Change in the Status and Powers of the Pool Watchers after the Enactment of the January 26, 2023 Amendments to the Election Code

The amendment to the Election Code made on 2023 significantly changed the status and powers of the pool watchers. If they observe the voting for at least 5 hours and observe the entire process of determining the results of voting until the signing of the voting protocol, they will receive 40% of the flat-rate allowance of members of ward electoral commissions. The chairmen of ward electoral commissions are obliged to keep records of the working time of the pool watchers. The most controversial issue is granting them the possibility of registering all activities of ward electoral commissions on election day using their own devices recording all activities of the ward electoral commission also during voting. This solution violates the principle of secrecy of voting, the right to privacy, and may be treated as an unacceptable form of pressure on the voter regarding the content of his vote.

In this paper an attempt is made to determine the material, subjective and temporal scope of application of an electoral exception provided for under Art. 31 (3) of the Copyright Law. To this end, normative acts, judicial decisions, and doctrinal views were examined. Also, the author analyses the concept of “election event” and the relevance copyright law has to it. In conclusions, a postulate de lege ferenda is formulated.