Impact of changes introduced to the Polish election law in 2018 on the process of preparing and conducting elections

Abstract

The aim of the paper was to explain the essence of the reform of the Polish election law, which took place in 2018. The changes were studied from the perspective of their impact on the process of organisation and preparation of elections. Therefore, four key elements of the reform were selected for analysis: institutional changes concerning commissioners and election officials, change in the position of local government units in the preparation and conduct of elections, live streaming of the work of district electoral Commissions (Obwodowa Komisja Wyborcza) and their appointing their members. The basic research method was the analysis of legal acts and expert interviews. The text highlights a number of problems and shortcomings related to the implementation of the reform. It was found that there are currently no institutions in Poland that have the resources to take over from local government units the tasks related to the preparation and organisation of elections. It was shown that many of the intended objectives of the reform were not achieved, either as a result of the amendments in the pre-election period or as a result of the interpretation aimed at maintaining the actual status quo despite legal changes. The latter phenomenon is the most visible in the institution of the electoral officer.

Keywords

• local elections
• election law
• code of election laws
• election official