Elections Will Be Held on October 15. Editorial Offices Must Be Prepared for Election Processes

By press.pl | 9 September 2023

President Andrzej Duda announced yesterday the date of the parliamentary elections – voting will take place on October 15. For the editors, this means that the hot period of flash trials begins. “It’s true, after a rather hectic ‘pre-campaign’ we expect an increase in the number of election lawsuits,” says Bartosz Wielinski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza.

The president announced the date of the parliamentary elections on Instagram and Twitter, later on the official account of the Office of the President of Poland. This was met with criticism from journalists, who accused the head of state of lack of concern for the solemnity of the office. Several minutes earlier, the Polish Press Agency unofficially reported the date.

The issue of so-called election processes is regulated by Article 111 par. 1 of the Election Code of January 5, 2011. It stipulates that if disseminated, including in the press within the meaning of the Act of January 26, 1984. – Press Law (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1914), election materials, particularly posters, leaflets and slogans, as well as statements or other forms of conducted election agitation, contain false information, the candidate or election agent of the election committee concerned has the right to apply to the district court for a ruling:

prohibition of dissemination of such information;
forfeiture of election materials containing such information;
ordering the rectification of such information;
ordering the publication of a response to statements that violate personal rights;
order to apologize to the person whose personal rights have been violated;
order the participant in the proceedings to pay an amount of up to PLN 100,000 to a public benefit organization.

Lawyers point out that the commonly used term “election lawsuit” is not correct, as it is actually a “motion for judgment.”

The court with jurisdiction over the ruling is the district court, which will hear the ruling request within 24 hours. Proceedings in the so-called “election procedure” are heard by the court in non-trial proceedings (Article 111 par. 2 of the Election Code). The proceedings themselves do not end with a judgment, but with an order.

The presence of the applicant and the participant in the proceedings is not necessary to hear the case, provided it is an excused absence and the parties were properly notified of the hearing date.

According to Article 111 par. 2 of the Election Code, the court shall immediately deliver the decision ending the proceedings, together with a statement of reasons, to the interested party (candidate or election agent) and to the person obliged to implement the court’s decision – for example, the editorial board.

The decision of the district court in an election case is subject to an appeal – a complaint (Article 111 par. 3 of the Election Code), which is filed with the court of appeals within 24 hours. The court of appeals shall review the complaint against the decision of the district court within 24 hours as well, and shall decide whether to uphold, modify, or revoke the decision and remit it to the district court for reconsideration. The appellate court’s decision is not subject to cassation appeal and is immediately enforceable.

Publication of a correction, reply or apology, according to Article 111 par. 4 of the Election Code, should take place within 48 hours at the latest. The cost of publication shall be borne by the obligated party by the court order, and the court shall indicate the media in which the publication is to take place and its deadline.

The Election Code also regulates the issue of refusal to comply with the ruling.

Article 111 par 5 of the Election Code: “If the obligee refuses or fails to publish a correction, reply or apology in the manner specified in the court’s decision, the court, at the request of the person concerned, shall order the publication of the correction, reply or apology by means of enforcement, at the expense of the obligee.”

Significantly, the provisions of Article 111 of the Election Code also constitute an exception to the rule set forth in Article 104 of the Election Code, according to which the election campaign begins on the day of the announcement of the act of the competent authority on the ordering of the election and ends 24 hours before voting day. This means that the proceedings for issuance of the ruling, the issuance of the ruling itself and the publication of a correction, response or apology can also take place during the so-called “election silence”, which is in effect on election day and 24 hours before it.

If the court rules on the publication of a correction, answer or apology on radio or television, the time allotted for their publication shall not be included in the permissible amount of advertising time specified in Article 16 of the Law of December 29, 1992 on Radio and Television Broadcasting (Article 111 par. 5a of the Election Code).

The use of the election mode does not mean that a person aggrieved by the publications cannot assert his or her rights under other laws – in particular, the Criminal Code, the Civil Code and the Press Law.

Boguslaw Chrabota, editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita, believes that the number of election-mode lawsuits may increase in this campaign compared to previous years. “I expect this to happen. The temperature of this campaign will be high, and the level of emotions will be exceptional,” he tells us.

“It is true that after this rather heated “pre-campaign” we expect an increase in the number of lawsuits in the election mode,” Bartosz Wielinski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, also confirms. “Since the beginning of the vacations, we have already had more than a dozen lawsuits for rectification on political issues.”

Vielinski adds that this mode may not suit everyone. – As in the case of Joachim Brudzinski, who is complaining to the newspaper and Wojciech Czuchnowski for a text about the renovation of his apartment by a state-owned hotel company. If he were to sue us in election mode – he would have to provide all the documents, which we have not been able to request for weeks.

At the same time, the National Broadcasting Council draws attention to four regulations that govern the activities of the public broadcaster in the context of elections. These are:

Ordinance of the National Broadcasting Council on the detailed rules and procedures for holding debates by Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna,
The ordinance of the KRRiT on the time and framework distribution of the time allocated for free distribution of election broadcasts,
Ordinance of the KRRiT on the procedure in matters of unpaid presentation in the programs of public radio and television broadcasters of information, explanations and announcements of the State Election Commission,
The ordinance of the KRRiT on the principles and manner of combined election campaigning in radio and television programs by election committees authorized to broadcast election broadcasts