The Law and Justice party (PiS) has submitted a notice to the public prosecutor’s office regarding the illegal financing of the presidential campaign of Civic Coalition (KO) candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. Member of Parliament Marcin Warchoł emphasized that at least three articles of the Electoral Code were violated during the campaign.
Illegal Campaign Financing: PiS Deputies Notify Prosecutor’s Office
On Wednesday, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for the Prevention of Lawlessness – “Safe Poland” – the committee’s vice-chairman, Marcin Warchoł (PiS), announced that the PiS parliamentary group had submitted a formal notification to the prosecutor’s office regarding the presidential campaign of KO candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.
He stated that the notification concerns two issues: the illegal activities undertaken by the Akcja Demokracja Foundation, which purportedly involved interference in the electoral campaign through the deliberate dissemination of false and misleading information and the illegal financing of the campaign.
According to Warchoł, Trzaskowski’s campaign violated at least three articles of the Electoral Code, particularly with respect to: the rights of electoral committees; the absence of proper electoral committee identification on campaign materials; and the transfer and acceptance of prohibited non-monetary contributions. “We expect that the National Electoral Commission (PKW) will, in the future, reject the financial report submitted by Rafał Trzaskowski’s electoral committee,” the MP stressed.
The committee’s chairman, MP Michał Woś (PiS), reported that prior to the meeting, the committee had requested the presence of representatives from the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK).
“Since they did not attend — although I admit that the timing was pressing — we are now refining our questions regarding the actions they have taken, and we will submit them in writing,”
he declared.
MP Dariusz Matecki (PiS), a member of the committee, stated that the Anti-Polonism Monitoring Center Foundation — of which he is the president and founder — will submit notifications to the PKW and the prosecutor’s office concerning “the illegal financing of Rafał Trzaskowski’s electoral campaign.” He added that notifications had already been sent to NASK, but there had been no response. In his view, given the media reports on the matter, “ABW should intervene without even needing a formal notice.” “They are the ones who should be monitoring the online situation, especially in connection with elections — but they are failing to do so,” he assessed.
Defamatory Campaign
Last Wednesday, the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) reported a possible attempt to interfere in the electoral campaign — referring specifically to political advertisements on Facebook that may have been funded from abroad. The ABW was informed of the situation. Advertising accounts involved in the campaign reportedly spent more on political content in the past seven days than any official electoral committee. According to NASK, these actions appeared to support one candidate while discrediting others. “The advertising campaigns conducted by these accounts particularly concerned Rafał Trzaskowski, Karol Nawrocki, and Sławomir Mentzen,” the official communication stated.
Last Thursday, the news outlet Wirtualna Polska reported that the online political ads promoting Rafał Trzaskowski and attacking his opponents — Karol Nawrocki (supported by PiS) and Sławomir Mentzen (of Confederation) — were orchestrated by an employee and volunteers of the Akcja Demokracja Foundation. Internet users had been pointing out these Facebook advertisements for several weeks.
NASK indicated last week that the ads had been blocked as a result of the activities of the Electoral Umbrella (Parasol Wyborczy). However, Meta denied these claims. “We did not remove any advertisements related to these pages at the request of NASK, as they did not violate our policies. These ads appear as inactive in the ad library because the campaign period has ended,” company representatives explained.
During the committee session, MP Matecki presented the advertisement library from Meta’s website, asserting that the advertisements in question remain active. He claimed that “in our opinion, this constitutes ongoing illegal electioneering financed by State Treasury companies or foreign entities.”