On 15 September 2023, the Supreme Court, sitting in the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber, dismissed four complaints filed under Article 218(2) of the Electoral Code by persons submitting lists of candidates of the Election Committee Polska Liberalna Strajk Przedsiębiorców (Committee) for deputies in the elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, scheduled for 15 October 2023.
Each of the complaints was filed against the resolution of the National Electoral Commission (PKW) concerning the dismissal of the Committee's appeal against the resolution of the district electoral commission to refuse to register the Committee's list of candidates for deputies in the elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.
Referring to the charges concerning the proper operation of the Central Registry of Voters (CRW), the Supreme Court emphasised that the PKW, as a permanent electoral authority, has access to the CRW in order to perform the tasks specified in the Electoral Code (EC). Therefore, the PKW was entitled to use the CRW when verifying signatures of support. The Supreme Court explained that as a general rule, in the CRW, and previously in the electoral registries, voters who are registered as permanent residents (domiciled) in the municipality are included ex officio in the permanent electoral district corresponding to their address of permanent residence (domicile). However, if voters who permanently reside in the municipality, without being registered for permanent residence there, submit an appropriate request to its respective municipal office, they are included in the permanent voting district of their place of residence on election day. At the same time, the Supreme Court emphasised that before the introduction of the CRW, exactly the same rules applied. The difference was that the registry of voters was kept separately in the IT systems of particular municipalities and not in the system provided by the Ministry of Digital Affairs. With the introduction of the CRW, the data from the registries of voters were transferred to it. The Supreme Court pointed out that such a method of verifying signatures of support had been repeatedly approved by the Supreme Court on the grounds of previous legislation in this regard.
Referring to the charges of the PKW's failure to conduct a formal investigation procedure aimed at verification of the correctness of the lists of signatures of voters supporting the lists of candidates of the aforementioned Committee, as well as the PKW's failure to conduct selected activities of a verifying nature without ensuring the possibility of participation in such activities of the person submitting the list, the Supreme Court pointed out that the obligation to submit correct lists of signatures of voters supporting the list of candidates of a particular election committee is imposed on the election committee, and the election committee is responsible for any failures in this respect. At the same time the Supreme Court explained that, according to Article 217(1) of the EC, in the case of justified doubts regarding the veracity of the data contained in the list of signatures or the authenticity of the signatures, the district electoral commission shall, within 3 days, verify the data in the CRW, or verify the authenticity of the signatures on the basis of officially available documents, and, if necessary, request explanations from the voters. Thus, the linguistic interpretation of the referred provision indicates that its recipient is the district electoral commission, and it is the authority that is obliged to perform the actions under Article 217 of the EC.
The Supreme Court also emphasised that only the submission by a particular election committee in at least 21 electoral districts of lists of candidates, which meet the statutory requirement to be supported by voters' signatures, entitles the committee to submit further lists without the need to demonstrate such support. Thus, if lists of candidates are not registered in at least 21 electoral districts, the submission of further lists without the support of voters' signatures will not be considered effective and, as a result, they will not be registered.