WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s electoral authority said Thursday that the former right-wing ruling party violated campaign finance rules in the 2023 parliamentary election and imposed a multimillion-dollar fine that would undermine the party’s resources for next year’s presidential election.
The State Election Commission said the campaign of the Law and Justice party, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023 and is now the main opposition party, improperly used 3.6 million zlotys ($930,000) in public money.
The commission ordered the conservative party to repay that amount and also ordered it to reduce government subsidies for the party for the coming years, which amount to about 10 million zlotys (2.5 million dollars) per year.
The sanctions, which can be appealed, would significantly limit the party’s resources for the 2025 presidential election, in which it aims to maintain its control of that office.
Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said before the verdict was announced that such a decision would be an act of political revenge by the current government on its predecessor and would mean the end of democracy in Poland.
He said the commission was acting under pressure from the current centrist and pro-European government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Law and Justice party is expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, where it still has some control. The court’s ruling would be binding.
