On 24 August 2023, the Supreme Court, sitting in a closed session of the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber, examined the first electoral protest lodged in connection with the parliamentary elections scheduled for 15 October 2023.
The Supreme Court left the protest without further proceedings as lodged before the announcement of the election results by the National Electoral Commission, which opens the possibility of lodging election protests. Such a premature protest is inadmissible by law and is subject to rejection.
Moreover, the Supreme Court emphasised that the appellant did not provide the PESEL number when lodging the election protest, which constitutes its procedural deficiency. Pursuant to Article 126(2)(2) of the Code of Civil Proceedings, when a pleading is the first letter in a case, it should include, inter alia, the Universal Electronic System of Population Registration (PESEL) number.
The Supreme Court acknowledged that in the previous practice of examining election protests (e.g. during the examination of protests lodged after the presidential elections in 2020) the restrictive requirement for protesters to include PESEL numbers was waived. However, it resulted in the authors of protests impersonating well-known public figures, as well as in subsequent difficulties (refusal to accept correspondence, lack of addressees at the address indicated in the protest). Such irregularities can only be prevented by enforcing the formal requirements provided by law, which include the requirement to provide the PESEL number on the letter lodged with the court. The necessity for the voter to provide his or her PESEL number when lodging a protest is also confirmed by the entry into force of the provisions creating the Central Registry of Voters.