“There is no such mechanism as a general vote recount, and the principle of the rule of law applies — the state operates based on and within the bounds of the law,” said Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, addressing the possibility of a vote recount.
The head of the largest opposition party in the Sejm was asked by journalists, ahead of the chamber’s session, about the possibility of recounting all the votes cast in the presidential election.
He emphasized that there are no grounds for such action. “The elections were fair,” he stated.
“There is no such institution as a general vote recount. What exists is the principle of legality — the state operates based on and within the framework of the law,” Kaczyński reiterated.
He maintained that “the elections were fair” and remarked that “there are many politicians who, in one way or another, question the election results simply because they cannot accept defeat.” He added, “What this group is doing — trying to convince people the elections were rigged — is not in Poland’s interest.”
No Legal Grounds
Pressed further on why he opposes the idea of a recount in places where it might be necessary, Kaczyński responded: “Because it is entirely unlawful.”
When it was suggested that he himself might protest if he believed his vote for Karol Nawrocki had been “transferred” by an electoral commission to Rafał Trzaskowski, the PiS leader replied that “there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that such irregularities occurred on a significant scale.” He added that even journalists were not aware of whether such situations had taken place in the precincts where the Supreme Court ordered an inspection of ballots, since there had been no official information released on the matter.
“A Crushing Defeat for the Coalition”
Journalists pointed out that, according to information from the prosecutor’s office, in one of the two precinct commissions in Bielsko-Biała where irregularities were found, 160 votes cast for Trzaskowski were counted together with votes assigned to Nawrocki and recorded as such in the protocol.
Asked whether, for the sake of transparency, it would be worth recounting the votes, Kaczyński reiterated that “there is no reason to question the outcome of the election.”
“We know this is a crushing defeat for the coalition — the beginning of its collapse and ultimately an accounting for everything that has been going on here,” Kaczyński concluded.