Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met with the District’s Prosecutors Office on Thursday over charges that he overstepped his powers when he mandated a mail-ballot only presidential election in 2020, in what he claimed a political persecution made by current Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Prosecutors are saying that Morawiecki didn’t have the legal power to authorise an election only via mail. According to prosecutors’ spokesperson Piotr Skiba the former PM is accused of exceeding his authority and failing to fulfil official duties. Morawiecki, who waived his immunity in order to allow the case, refused to answer questions when he met with prosecutors.
The case is one of several against former governmental officials that have been moving forward since Tusk assumed office in 2023, replacing Morawiecki. Tusk and his government have been working to crackdown what they believe was widespread governmental corruption and violation of rule of law. Morawiecki and his allies rejected those claims.
Speaking before entering the prosecutor’s office, Morawiecki said that he was doing his duty during difficult circumstances, fulfilling a constitutional duty to organise the presidential election within a specific time frame.
However, already in 2020, a court already ruled that organising the vote via mail, with the help of the national post service was a violation of several laws. Morawiecki tried to organise the election on May 10th, but in the end had to postpone it by several weeks, on June 28th. The failed organisation of a full postal vote costed an estimated 70 million zloty.
