The District Prosecutor’s Office in Siedlce has charged more than 130 members of polling station election commissions with unreliable vote counting and drafting of protocols in the second round of the 2025 presidential election. A prosecution spokesperson announced this on Friday, 13 November.
What the prosecutors established
Bartłomiej Świderski, spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Siedlce, said that in recent weeks further members of polling station election commissions had been questioned as suspects. In total, more than 130 people have now been charged. The prosecution continues to summon and question further commission members against whom it has gathered evidence.
The charge concerns the negligent failure to perform duties by public officials (Article 231 § 3 of the Criminal Code). According to the prosecution, the suspects unreliably counted valid and invalid votes in the second round and unreliably drew up voting protocols. This allegedly caused significant harm to the public interest, namely the proper conduct of the election, and to the private interests of the candidates – Karol Nawrocki and Rafał Trzaskowski – by distorting their results. The offence carries a fine, restriction of liberty or up to two years in prison.
From 68 to more than 130 suspects
In its update of 4 September, the prosecution reported that 68 people had been charged, and 40 of them had admitted guilt and provided explanations. The charges concerned commission members in, among other places, Stoczek in Węgrów County, Stanin, Mińsk Mazowiecki, Bychawa, Magnuszew, Radom, Lublin, Łaskarzew, Stoczek Łukowski, Poturzyn and Łęczna.
The prosecution has sent a bill of indictment to the District Court in Węgrów against six members of commission no. 4 in Stoczek. For three other members of that commission, it has filed a motion for conditional discontinuation of proceedings.
What the prosecution is not disclosing
The prosecution has previously explained that, for the sake of the investigation, it does not provide detailed information about the locations of the commissions covered by the charges or the content of the suspects’ explanations. Those who have been charged are suspects – no verdicts have been issued against them.
The first information about charges against commission members in this case emerged in spring and summer. We reported on both election rounds in our article on the exchange between Nawrocki and Trzaskowski after the election. The National Electoral Commission (PKW) also described errors in the protocols, including the swapping of results between candidates in some polling districts, in its election report.
