Chancellery of the Sejm / Rafał Zambrzycki, CC BY 2.0For Law and Justice, last year was definitely not successful. The polls clearly show a downward trend in support of the ruling coalition, and for the election there is little than a year left. possibly for this reason, on 22 December, a draft amendment to the Electoral Code was sent to the Sejm, which could aid get the ruling organization more votes. Is this the last hotel for the PiS?
The reason for the changes, which already in the first conviction of the explanatory memorandum to the bill, are given by the applicant is the request to increase election attendance. This sounds harmless, and what is more, it is impossible to disagree with the conclusion that Poles are reluctant to participate in the “holiness of democracy” of elections. According to the State Election Commission data, no of the elections after 1989 participated more than 65% of citizens entitled to vote. In the parliamentary elections, the voters even oscillate below this threshold, due to the fact that around 50%. However, in fresh years there has been an improvement, for example the turnout in the 2019 parliamentary elections increased by 10.82 percent points compared to the 2015 elections.
It is planned to increase the number of voting circuits by raising the minimum threshold of the population to 200. As before, the circuit was formed if at least 500 people were present, so now only 200 would have been enough. Consequently, more circuits would should be created, and more members of regional electoral commissions across the country would should be appointed to oversee the voting process. This solution is intended to facilitate participation in the elections of tiny towns and villages, where the analysis shows that the PiS enjoys the top support. For example, as the Ipsos survey shows, in the first circular of the final presidential election, Andrzej Duda, who, of course, competed for the ruling coalition, enjoyed the support of the order of 54.7% in the villages.
The amendments to the Electoral Code are besides intended to address expanding the availability of electoral premises for older people. The amendment assumes that existing rules on participation in the elections of persons with disabilities will besides apply to those who will turn 60 at the latest on election day. Interestingly, in any cases both señors and voters with disabilities will be able to usage free transport to the electoral premises. However, local authorities are to be liable for the logistics and (significant) costs of this solution. So erstwhile again, the government shifts work for its ideas to local governments. likewise to the previously presented geographical structure of support for the Law and Justice, the demographicly most votes of the ruling organization should be won by the elderly. After the second circular of the 2020 presidential election, Ipsos stated that support for Andrzej Duda among voters after the age of 60 was more than 60%, while people before the age of 30 until 65% voted for opposition candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.
The "election revolution" is intended to hit not only the voting process but besides the activities of election committees. The PiS proposes, among another things, to strengthen the rules on financial statements on the activities of committees. The most politically interesting is the change in grants to coalition parties. So far they have agreed on how to divide the grant. Following the changes, the appropriations would be allocated proportionally to the contributions of each organization to the electoral coalition. Could specified a proposal be a conflict between the leaders of the ruling coalition?
The last change worth mentioning is to increase the rigour of the election committees. Firstly, the same composition of the committee will participate in both the vote and the vote count. So far, it has been possible to divide the committees into sub-groups that dealt with each of these tasks. specified a solution will make it much harder to work, given that the committee's work starts before 6 a.m. on election day.
Secondly, as the applicant argues, ‘in fresh years, civic activity, alleged ‘guardive activity’, has gained popularity, has been proposed to increase the function of men of trust in the voting process’. While this seems to be a neutral proposal, we can anticipate from experience that the PiS, terrified by the results of the polls, will want to usage specified a evidence to place its “watchmen” in as many polling stations as possible.
Before summing up the proposed changes to the electoral code, the most crucial thing must be noted. In accordance with the rule formulated by the Constitutional Court, electoral law should not be amended six months before the elections. The alleged "legislative silence" is intended to guarantee the stableness and transparency of the selection rules. In this case, for the full process of adopting amendments, it remains a maximum of about 5 months if elections are planned at the end of October or early November. Let us remind that, in addition to acting in the Sejm, the fresh law will besides go to the Senate, where the Law and Justice organization have no majority, which can make the legislative process much more difficult. The chances of the task being adopted six months before the elections are so slim.
The proposed changes, which can be read entirely on the Sejm website (print number 2897) are a clear sign that the PiS is on fire. Both the autumn elections and the run preceding them will surely bring many emotions and surprises.
Zuzanna ZAREMBA
