Poland: PiS no longer receives state funding
Poland's state election commission has withdrawn the election campaign subsidy from the right-wing conservative PiS party and barred it from receiving government political party funding for three years. The commission found several points in the bookkeeping for last year's parliamentary election campaign to be questionable, in particular the misuse of state funds for party purposes. What are the consequences?
A lesson for the entire political class
Non-partisan institutions serve everyone, comments Rzeczpospolita:
“Thursday's decisions provide an important lesson to the entire political class: it pays to follow the rules and the law, because no political power lasts forever and political machinations can be severely punished. But the institutional conclusion is not pretty: the politically elected state election committee has rendered its decision on the fate of grants, and that decision is being appealed in a court some also see as politicised.”
Something for everyone
PiS will weather the financial freeze, insists Polityka:
“Not even a complete withdrawal of donations would hurt PiS as it's the richest political party in Poland. Anyway, the party has already announced public fundraising for [next year's] presidential elections, which will be a great opportunity to do PR and mobilise the segment of the voting public that has drifted into lethargy or political fatigue. For supporters of the ruling coalition, the cancellation of subsidies is a form of reparations for past injustices and proves that Tusk's state can take action.”