The role of the administrative court in the process of dividing a commune into constituencies

The manner of determining the division of a commune into electoral constituencies and determining the number of seats per district is an expression of the implementation of the principle of equality of elections in a material sense. The proper division of a commune into constituencies is a guarantee of the equality of electoral law. The Electoral Code of 2011, originally stipulated that no legal remedy was available to the decisions of the National Electoral Commission issued as part of the verification of the provisions of the electoral commissioner. The Constitutional Tribunal, by a verdict of 6 April 2016, ruled that this regulation is unconstitution. The Act of January 11, 2018 introduced a two-instance control of the legality of the division of the commune into constituencies (before the provincial administrative court and before the Supreme Administrative Court). Subsequently, it was considered that, given that electoral activities related to the formation of constituencies and the change of their borders are covered by the electoral calendar and must be carried out without undue delay that the judicial review procedure should assume speed and efficiency of proceedings in this matter. The Act of June 15, 2018 amending the Act – Election Code and certain other acts amended the provisions on the jurisdiction and mode of judicial review of the electoral bodies’ acts on matters related to the creation of constituencies and on the deadline for lodging appeals and complaints to the court. Court proceedings in this matter have become one-instance, and complaints about resolutions of the National Electoral Commission regarding the division communes into electoral constituencies are to be recognized only by the Supreme Administrative Court. 

Glossary to the Decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court of May 11, 2021, file ref. no. III OSK 3265/21

In the commented order, the Supreme Administrative Court held that the matter of conferring the title of professor is an administrative matter. The court assumed that the conferring the title of professor is not a discretionary decision of the President, falling within the scope of his personal prerogative. The decision of the President of the Republic of Poland falls into a category “acts or actions related to public administration regarding rights or obligations under legal regulations” referred to in Art. 3 § 2 point 4 of the Act of August 30, 2002 – the Law on proceedings before administrative courts. The President of the Republic of Poland should be treated as an administrative body in a functional sense, and thereby a lack of action or excessive length of proceedings in this case can be a subject to review by an administrative court.

Gloss to the Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of February 16, 2022, file ref. no. II OSK 128/19

In the commented order, the Supreme Administrative Court held that the state is obliged to grant Polish citizenship to a person whose parents are of the same sex, which results from the birth certificate submitted by them, and that the implementation of this obligation does not threaten the public order of the Republic of Poland. The use of the public order clause in such a case is not legally justified and constitutes a form of discrimination against the child on the basis of the content of international instruments.

Gloss to the Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of May 17, 2023, file ref. no. II OSK 1461/20

The subject of the commented judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court (II OSK 1461/20) is the issue of determining the admissibility of transposing the British act of same sex marriage under Polish law. A judgment permitting such a substantive and technical act would lead to the preparation of a marriage certificate containing personal data of persons of the same sex. Currently, administrative court share the position on the refusal under Polish law to transcribe the act of marriage concluded abroad by of the same sex. However, the NSA presents a position that may evolve. For this reason, arguments have been presented to consistently distinguish marriage between a man and women a same-sex relationship.