Tusk: The elections will not be important for citizens if we do not explain all the protests
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
nl/ pab/ mok/ sdd/
Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
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Wherever there are doubts, the votes should be counted, regardless of how many district commissions are involved, says Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He also expects the Supreme Court to forward every justified electoral protest to the prosecutor's office, which will be able to check what happened in the given commissions.
At Friday's conference, the Prime Minister was asked, among other things, whether, due to the large number of electoral protests, a full recount of the votes cast in the presidential election was necessary.
Tusk said that when citizens have doubts, everything must be done to clarify them. He assured that he does not assume that: "let's count, let's count, maybe we will manage to invalidate the elections". "That's really not the point. But these elections will not be important from the point of view of citizens if we do not clarify all these protests," he added.
He cited the example of two district electoral commissions in Bielsko-Biała, where irregularities occurred – in one, votes cast for candidates were changed, which led to the assumption that Karol Nawrocki received a greater number of votes in that district; in the other, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were placed in a package with votes attributed to Nawrocki. In connection with the protests filed, the Supreme Court decided to inspect the ballots from a total of 13 district electoral commissions.
"We currently have a preliminary assessment of the situation in 800 commissions, where there are surprising results and where statistics clearly show that something is wrong there," said the prime minister. According to him, the Supreme Court is currently "secreting the results of verification procedures", but - as he said - "wherever votes are counted, it is clear that "there was manipulation, forgery or mistakes, but we do not know on what scale".
Tusk stressed that citizens "have the right to know the real election result."
He noted that he cannot and does not intend to issue orders or recommendations to the courts, but the government's responsibility includes the work of the prosecutor's office. "The task of the prosecutor's office is not to question the election results, but wherever there is a suspicion of fraud or a crime, it will investigate and prosecute such events," said the head of government.
He added that he expects that in every case where a protest has any justification, the Supreme Court will send it to the prosecutor's office so that it "can, in accordance with its competences, check what happened in the given committees and, wherever there is the slightest doubt, count the votes." "Wherever there is doubt - yes, let's count the votes again. Whether it's 13 committees, whether it's 800 committees, whether it's 15 thousand committees," the prime minister said.
He informed that so far the prosecutor's office has received about 150-160 protests from the Supreme Court. "We are still waiting for these protests to be forwarded to honestly assess where we need to check and where we don't," he added.
He stressed that the right of citizens to file a protest results from the constitution, and the bodies appointed to assess the course of elections have an obligation to examine all protests with respect and determination. He also emphasized that one cannot assume in advance that the elections are valid or invalid, the protests must first be checked. "It cannot be that anyone in Poland has doubts whether their vote matters," Tusk said.
He was also asked about the possible questioning of the election results if the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs decides on their validity. The Prime Minister stated that this chamber does not operate legally. "Is there any idea on how to solve this? Statutorily, no," the Prime Minister recalled that President Andrzej Duda vetoed a law according to which the validity of the presidential election in 2025 would be decided by the Supreme Court, composed of 15 judges with the longest service.
In connection with this, he appealed to the president to withdraw the veto. "Mr. President, please withdraw the veto. This will mean that tomorrow we will have Supreme Court judges whose decisions we will all accept without any problems," Tusk said.
The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs – which, according to the Supreme Court Act, is competent to, among other things, decide on the validity of elections – is composed of judges appointed as a result of procedures before the National Council of the Judiciary after 2017. For this reason, the status of the chamber is being questioned by the current government, which cites here, among other things, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2018, electoral issues were considered by the then Chamber of Labour, Insurance and Public Affairs.
In January this year, the Sejm passed the so-called incidental act, according to which the validity of, among other things, the election of the president in 2025 would be determined by the "Supreme Court composed of 15 judges who have served as the longest-serving judge of the Supreme Court", and not by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs. However, the president vetoed this act.
After considering all protests, based on the election report presented by the National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court, in a composition of the entire Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, decides on the validity of the election of the President of the Republic of Poland. The resolution in this matter is passed within 30 days of the announcement of the election results to the public. This means that the last day by which this decision should be made is July 2 this year.
Supreme Court spokesman Judge Aleksander Stępkowski told PAP on Friday that he does not rule out the possibility that the number of protests against the election of the President of the Republic of Poland will exceed 50,000. He added that there is currently no date set for the meeting of the Extraordinary Control Chamber on the matter. "However, we intend to meet this deadline by July 2, although with the scale of 50,000 protests it is a huge undertaking," he said. (PAP)
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