Poland parliamentary elections 2019: ODIHR observation mission final report

Following the parliamentary elections in Poland on 13 October 2019, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has published its final report. The elections were prepared well, and contestants were able to campaign freely, but media bias and intolerant campaign rhetoric were of significant concern. Recent amendments to the electoral legal framework addressed some prior ODIHR recommendations, including provisions on citizen observation, but there are some significant gaps, particularly related to campaigning by public officials, campaign finance and election dispute resolution.

Key recommendations include:

• Reviewing the legal framework to address shortcomings identified in this and prior ODIHR reports, and to ensure the independence and impartiality of institutions responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process, including the National Election Commission.

• Ensuring a clear separation between state and party by taking measures to separate government administration and party campaigning, such as amending legislation to adequately define and regulate campaigning by public officials, and to explicitly prohibit the abuse of state resources in election campaigns.

• Revising relevant legislation to provide clear mechanisms for authorities to prevent and counter instances of hate speech; ensuring that electoral contestants refrain from using intolerant rhetoric and that authorities promptly condemn any such cases.

• Presenting all parties on the public broadcaster in an impartial and objective manner, and handling favourable treatment of a political party by public media as an illegal use of public funds; revising the Election Code to include legal requirements for equitable, balanced and impartial coverage of the campaign in public media.

• Repealing all provisions that envisage the criminal prosecution of defamation, libel, insult and slander, and using civil sanctions instead.

• Ending restrictions on the electoral rights of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities.

ODIHR deployed a Limited Election Observation Mission on 10 September 2019 to observe the parliamentary elections. All 57 countries across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.