REPUBLIC OF POLAND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 15 OCTOBER 2023

of the Venice Commission’s 2002 The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters recommends that “the fundamental elements of electoral law […] should not be open to amendment less than one year before an election.” Paragraph 63 of the Explanatory Report to the Code of Good Practice states that “[s]tability of the law is crucial to credibility of the electoral p. [...] At the proposal of the MoI, the NEC appoints the head of the NEO for a seven-year term.20 The NEO has 49 permanent delegate offices to support the CECs and PECs.21 Additionally, the NEO appointed around 2,600 civil servants as election officers to train PEC members and coordinate election day logistics. [...] While they were waiting for the results of verification, the CECs in Katowice III and Warsaw I and II issued a series of contradictory decisions related to the registration of PL’s lists (without support signatures) simultaneously with ongoing appeals procedures at the NEC and the Supreme Court in the same matter. [...] However, the effectiveness of these limits was undermined to the advantage of the ruling party, by the foundations of state-controlled companies espousing positions in referendum campaigns which amplified the ruling party’s electoral campaign messages.71 Further, the ruling party was financed in part by executives of state-controlled companies making large donations, thereby creating the appearanc. [...] The independence of the NMC has been a point of contention between Poland and the European Parliament with the latter stating that it lacks “adequate safeguards for the functional independence from political parties and the government”.