Thousands of protests have been filed with the Supreme Court, concerning both parliamentary elections and the referendum. The allegations against the second of the votes are very serious, primarily revolving around mass-scale agitation by members of the election commissions. As reported by Niezalezna.pl, the Supreme Court must issue a ruling by December 15, and it will probably annul the referendum with its decision. This would mean the necessity of a repeat vote.
On Sunday, October 15, elections for members of the Sejm and senators for the Senate took place, but at the same time, Poles voted in a nationwide referendum.
Unfortunately, during the voting, numerous cases occurred where members of the election commissions asked whether the voter wanted all the voting cards or even suggested “without a referendum one.”
Even the State Electoral Commission – still during the voting – issued a statement drawing attention to a very serious problem.
“The State Electoral Commission recommends that regional commissions be immediately informed that such actions are unacceptable,” the SEC emphasized. – “It should be pointed out to the commissions that the voter has the right to refuse to accept any of the voting cards, and the district electoral commission cannot ask which cards to issue.”
This situation undoubtedly could have influenced the voting result. Recall that ultimately the turnout was 40.91%, and the threshold for the validity of the referendum was 50 percent. This meant that the referendum result was not binding.
As expected, numerous electoral protests related to the referendum have been submitted to the Supreme Court. Niezalezna.pl has determined that there are well over two thousand of them. The vast majority concern agitation conducted by members of the election commissions.
The protests are currently being analyzed by the judges of the Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court. According to Polish law, a decision regarding the validity or invalidity of the referendum must be issued by December 15.
As reported by Niezalezna.pl, the weight of the allegations contained in the protests – confirmed on Sunday, October 15, by the State Electoral Commission – makes the scenario of the annulment of the referendum by the Supreme Court very likely.
If such a ruling is announced, it will mean the necessity of a repeat nationwide referendum with the same questions.