Does the Polish model of election silence need a change?

The institution of election silence as well as its scope has been a subject of debates and controversies for years. Supporters of election silence underline its moderating and anticoaxing character. The opponents point to inveterate breaching of its rules, particularly on the Internet. For all that, the institution of election silence serves some political and social purposes and imperfections of its execution do not have to perforce undermine its merits. The aim of the present paper is to analyse legal solutions concerning election silence that have been implemented around the world and that constitute sundry models of this institution. Comparing them allows for identifying universal solutions and areas worth reforming.

Order a nationwide referendum by the President of the Republic of Poland in matters of particular importance to the State (selected problems)

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 granted the President of the Republic of Poland the right to order a nationwide referendum on issues of special importance for the state. Managing such a referendum is not made by the President of the Republic of Poland alone but requires the consent of the Senate in the form of a resolution. In Poland, after the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland in 1997, the institution of the referendum was to use only three times. The last referendum, which is the subject of the analysis was ordered on September 6, 2015. The problem of ordering a referendum by the President of the Republic of Poland, although seemingly obvious, gave birth to a number of practical problems – interpretation used the term “cases of special importance for the country,” judicial supervision of constitutionality and legality of the referendum, the correctness of the formulation of the referendum question.

Whether the Electoral Code of 5th January 2011 could be changed during the emergency state? Comments based on the provision of the Article 228 section 6 of the Polish Constitution

The article deals with the question, whether the limitation of particular laws’ amendments, sourced from the provision of the Article 228 section 6 of the Polish Constitution, covers the provisions of the Electoral Code or could that Code be changed during the state of emergency. The question is especially significant, because the above mention provision uses term of ‘electoral ordinance’ which is not used in the title of that Code. Formal and strict reconsideration of that’s question could mislead us to the conclusion, which says that the Codes’ changes are acceptable during the state of emergency. The Author, falsifying that thesis, advocates in favor of other conception, which explicitly express that neither the Codes’ nor its executives acts’ changes are acceptable during the state of emergency. The same limitation binds all legislative works connected with those legal acts, which shall be suspended.

11 stycznia 2018 r. Sejm RP uchwalił ustawę wprowadzającą wiele zmian do Kodeksu wyborczego. Najważniejsze zmiany dotyczyły administracji wyborczej, komisji wyborczych oraz praw wyborczych. Artykuł analizuje szczegółowe konsekwencje polityczne najważniejszych z tych reform. Autor dowodzi, że część z tych zmian, w szczególności dotyczących struktury Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej i administracji wyborczej jako takiej, może doprowadzić do kryzysu organizacyjnego i politycznego podczas wyborów samorządowych w 2018 r. Nie oznacza to jednak, że zmiany w obszarze prawa wyborczego nie są konieczne. Modyfikacje są potrzebą, ale wcześniej powinny być bardzo dokładnie przemyślane. System wyborczy jest bowiem jednym z najbardziej podanych na manipulacje instrumentów politycznych. Tymczasem uczciwa rywalizacja partyjna wymaga, aby reguły wyborcze nie były zmieniane zbyt pochopnie i często, zwłaszcza bezpośrednio przed wyborami.

Election Code – abuse of advertising during the election period

The issue presented in this thesis generally concerns equality before the law of all entities taking part in elections at various levels: voters and politicians. The term „equality” in article 32 paragraph 1 of the constitutions is commonly interpreted as a universal principle covering everyone, including natural and juridical persons, as well as institutions without a legal personality, regardless of other factors such as citizenship. In addition, the literature of constitutional law provides for equality before the law. The simplest, yet most accurate interpretation of the article is the principle of equality, that is the same, where the voice of every voter has the same strength. Therefore, can one be a candidate in elections and legally conduct advertisement for one’s own company at the same time? The problems presented concern both seasoned politicians as well as known public figures who are trying for local government positions, and candidates who are not yet public figures but conduct legal business activities. Inconsistent interpretation of the law compels citizens to legally notify the authorities about any believed offence and at the same time compels law enforcement to act on those notifications. Because of the facts mentioned above a person conducting business activitiess and advertising those business activities during an elections campaign can become a victim of persecution at hands of state institutions or a media witch-hunt.

Current problems of electoral law before elections to local government units

In December 2017, the Sejm adopted the Act on amending certain acts in order to increase the participation of citizens in the process of selecting, operating and controlling certain public bodies. The Act introduced significant changes to the Electoral Code, including, inter alia, the structures of electoral bodies, their competences, as well as the rules and manner of voting by voters. The article presents the most important problems related to the implementation of new rules of local government electoral law in the context of the upcoming elections to local government units.

Change of rules of constituency creation for local government elections in the Election Code Amendment of 2018

The article presents changes of rules of constituency creation. Purposefulness of the analysis occurred due to the Election Code Amendment of 2018. Changes introduced by the Amendment are very thorough and, at their final stage, will take away communes’ right to create the constituencies, since according to the act of 11 January 2018, since 1 January 2019 right of division of local government units into constituencies and of making changes in this area will become a sole competency of a Election Committee Head. The article also analyses the created legal circumstances in regards to their constitutionality.

The role of electoral commissioner in the process of dividing municipalities into electoral districts for municipality council elections according to Electoral Code

The Electoral Code of 2011 made a significant change in the existing rules for the conduct of elections of councilors to municipal councils introducing the principle that these elections in most municipalities in Poland will be held in single-member districts. This has caused the need for a new division of the municipalities into electoral districts, according the rules described in Electoral Code and in the guidelines of National Electoral Commission. The electoral commissioners are important in this process, because their task is to oversee the obey the electoral law by the local authorities. Their powers include i.e. the right to resolve complaints about municipal council resolution concerning the division of the municipality into electoral districts and the right to replace the municipal resolution by their own resolution if the local authority failed to perform its obligations on time or in a manner consistent with the law. The granting of these competencies to the electoral commissioners raises serious doubts as to whether the provisions of Electoral Code are not inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, and does not violate the supervisory powers of voivodes. The goal of this paper is to show the role of electoral commissioner in the process of dividing municipalities into electoral districts for municipality council elections according to Electoral Code, especially according to the line of the Constitutional Court expressed in the justification of the sentence in the case P 5/14.

The codification of the electoral law in Poland – the scope and meaning

The article describes the most important changes in electoral law brought in by The electoral code, passed in January, 5 th 2011. There are (among others): exceptions of personal polling rule, postal ballot, new rules of creating of constituencies, new regulations regarding electoral organs, election campaign and – new in Poland – single member plurality system in elections to the Senat and also – regulations regarding parity in electoral lists.

The aim of the article is to present recent amendments to the Electoral Code respecting constitutional right to a court and to describe some selected proposals for changes within the Polish electoral law, which – despite the fact that they were formulated by the doctrine of constitutional law and were raised in the legislative process – in certain cases have not yet been reflected in subsequent amendments to the Electoral Code. The analysis included the admissibility of bringing an appeal to the court against the decisions of the National Electoral Commission and some cyclical demands to abolish the election silence. The assessment of the indicated issues was made in the light of the science of law, the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the proposed amendment bills to the electoral law.

The subject of the analysis in the article is a new auxiliary apparatus – the corps of electoral officials. Implemented by the Act of 11 January 2018 on amending certain acts to increase the participation of citizens in the process of selecting, operating and controlling certain public bodies, amendment of the Act of 5 January 2011 – the Electoral Code, introduces this institution. The experience of the local government elections held on October 21, 2018 allows for an initial assessment of the introduced code regulation regarding the new apparatus – the electoral corps. The use of this institution, as a kind of novelty, also allows for the formulation of many detailed proposals of recommendations aimed at eliminating or minimizing the problems and irregularities in the operation of this apparatus, which is the purpose of this scientific article.

The Evolution of the Basic Principles of Electoral Law in Elections to Constitutive Organs of the Units of Local Government and Parliamentary Elections in Poland Since 1989

 The scope of this article is to show the evolution of the basic principles of electoral law in elections to constitutive organs of the units of local government and parliamentary elections in Poland since 1989. In the article it is shown the constitutional and statutory regulations concerning basic principles of electoral law and the methods of determining the elections results applicable in Poland in past thirty years, from the Sejm and the Senat Electoral Acts of 1989, to the Electoral Code of 2011 (amended in 2018). According to the author of this article, this evolution of rules results in establish two models of regulations of the principles of electoral law and electoral system. The first model is applicable in elections to Sejm, to voivodeships councils, to county councils and to municipal councils in “big” municipalities (more than 20.000 citizens), the second model is applicable in elections to Senat and to municipal councils in “small” municipalities (less than 20.000 citizens).

The Amendment of 2018 (Art. 52 §2a of the Polish Electoral Code) Against the Background of Considerations on the Implementation of the Guarantees the Right to Vote for People with Disabilities. Practical Aspects

The subject of the considerations made in the article was a practical analysis of the amendment to the Polish electoral law relating to the issue of ensuring the participation of disabled people in the election procedure. Statistical data (National Population and Housing Census of 2002, 2011) have been analyzed, also – normative acts in the field of electoral law, insurance law and doctrine views. The considerations were supplemented with the presentation of examples from the practice of exercising the electoral tights of the disabled. The amendment to the Electoral Code made by the Act on 11 January 2018 by adding § 2 a to art. 52 – in my opinion – should be assessed positively. I think that Polish electoral law adopts the legal definition of disability. The article ends with the postulate de lege ferenda.

After the adoption of the Electoral Code, the Ukrainian electoral system entered a new state of evolution. The paper presents the basic principles of electing People’s Deputies on the basis of the Electoral Code with regard to the earlier stages of changes in Ukrainian electoral law. The Polish literature has not dealt analytically with these solutions so far. Probably the time will come when they will be implemented. The author’s intention is to describe the characteristics of the Code in the part concerning the election of popular deputies. The President of Ukraine’s proposal to amend Art. 76 and 77 of the Constitution providing for the reduction of the number of deputies to 300, the introduction of censorship for speaking the mother tongue as a condition for running for the Verkhovna Rada and the constitutionalization of a proportional electoral system indicate that the process of shaping the principles of electing People’s Deputies in Ukraine is not yet complete.

The conduct of free elections depends to a large extent on the efficient functioning of electoral bodies. The doctrine distinguishes a number of models of functioning of election administration bodies. The standards of functioning of electoral bodies at the European level are defined by the standards of the Venice Commission, and in particular the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters. In Poland, after World War II, the adopted model of election administration did not meet democratic standards. It was only after 1990 that the State Election Commission was established as a permanent body consisting exclusively of judges of the Supreme Court, Constitutional Tribunal and Supreme Administrative Court. This concept was abandoned in an atmosphere of massive criticism of the judiciary. Although the model adopted now does not directly violate international standards, it seems to be a step backwards from the regulations existing after 1990.

Construction of terms in the Polish Electoral Code and the possibility of exercising electoral rights. Selected problems

 There is no doubt that it is important for the electoral process to shape the structure and chronology of electoral activities properly. This is important both from the point of view of the elections organizing services, but also the electoral committees, candidates and the voters. The statutory arrangement of terms and directional assumptions concerning them should therefore take into account the needs and capabilities of both these groups. However, due to the fact that election practice has repeatedly indicated that the assumptions about deadlines cause significant problems during the electoral process, it is worth paying more attention to this issue. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the Polish legislator, when making general assumptions about deadlines, took into account the nature of electoral rights, or whether he was mainly guided by organizational considerations

Amendment of 2018 (article 52 §2a of the Polish Electoral Code) as a guarantee of the implementation of active voting rights by disabled people. Analysis of the outline of the legislative process and theoretical and legal aspects

 The subject of the considerations made in the article is the theoretical and legal analysis of the amendment to the Polish electoral law relating to the issue of ensuring participation of disabled people in the electoral procedure. The outline of the legislative process initiated by submitting a deputy’s bill to amend certain acts in order to increase the participation of citizens in the process of electing, functioning and controlling certain public authorities (in particular by adding § 2a to article 52 of the electoral code), normative acts in the field of electoral law, insurance law, legal doctrine views are analyzed. In the article, the author answers the question whether the amendment to art. 52 of the electoral code, consisting of adding § 2a to it, is technical or warranty? The author conducts a polemic, during which he shows that Polish electoral law adopts the legal definition of disability. In addition, it is determined what causes of disability may justify the benefit of using art. 52 § 2a of the electoral code.

Parliamentary proposals for the implementation of direct starosts and province marshals elections

Out of the executive bodies of a local self-government, only the voits (mayors, presidents of cities) are elected in direct elections, whereas on the poviat and voivodeship level, we are dealing with collective management boards, the members of which are chosen indirectly by the council of the poviat, and by the voivodeship sejmik (a regional assembly). However, this issue is not discussedparticularly frequently, in parliamentary practice there have been attempts at introducing direct elections of starosts andvoivodeship marshals, which are justified by the need of strengthening the degree of social legitimization for such offices, as well as forharmonizing the regulations which are applicable on all local government levels. The goal of this article was to proceed with a critical analysis of the projects which have been submitted within this scope, as well as to answer the question: which conditions should be met so that the introduction of a fundamental change in the starost and voivodeship martial election procedure could be assessed positively.

Changes in the system of the Polish election administration in 2018–2020

Recently there have been made many amendments to Electoral Code. They concerned mostly electoral administration and further are being announced. The article is an attempt to summarize made and proposed changes from the perspective of basic principles concerning electoral management in democracy, in particular impartiality and efficiency of electoral management bodies. Analyse shows mainly the lack of complex vision for electoral administration, which is highly inadvisable.

The subject of this paper is to discuss the new institutions of Polish electoral criminal law, which are the penal provisions from 2018 added to the Electoral Code. These institutions, in addition to the norms guaranteeing the fairness of the electoral process and, at the same time, contributing to ensuring the fairness of elections resulting from international documents, national law, jurisprudence and views of the doctrine. The author discusses the features of a new type of prohibited act resulting from the amendment to the Electoral Code.