Polish electoral body says former ruling party violated campaign rules, imposes penalty

Poland’s electoral authority says that the former governing nationalist conservative party violated campaign funding rules in the 2023 parliamentary vote. The State Electoral Commission imposed a penalty worth millions of dollars that would undercut the party’s resources for next year’s presidential election. The commission said Thursday that the campaign of the Law and Justice party improperly took 3.6 million zlotys or $930,000 in public money. The party ruled Poland in 2015-2023 and is now the country’s main opposition force. The commission ordered the conservative party to pay back that amount and it also ordered a cut in the party’s government subsidies for the coming years amounting to about 10 million zlotys or $2.5 million per year.