The Investigative Committee of the Sejm is investigating who and how spent several tens of millions of zlotys on the organization of envelope elections. The first person to appear before the committee was former Deputy Prime Minister of Mateusz Morawiecki's government, Jarosław Gowin.
Hearing in the commission of inquiry
on the first day of the hearing Among other things, Govin said: why he was against the organization of elections by correspondence and under what circumstances he learned about the concept. He also stated that he was informed that they were looking for the so-called hooks.
The hearing continued on Wednesday. MP Jacek Karnowski asked why Health Minister Szumowski changed his mind regarding the organization of elections. Govin spoke about it on the first day of the hearing.
“When the idea of postal elections in 2020 appeared, we agreed with the then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the then head of the Ministry of Health, Lukasz Szumowski, that we would do everything to prevent these elections,” he said.
– He explained it with the will of Jaroslaw Kaczyński – he said on Wednesday, while answering a question about the Minister of Health.
Gauvin: They changed their mind
Deputy Jonski, in turn, asked whether the decision to block the organization of the elections after the meeting with Prime Minister Morawiecki and Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski, which Gowin discussed on Tuesday, was purely political in nature.
– Then, according to Minister Zumovsky, the May 10 elections should be postponed due to the threat to the health and safety of Poles. Prime Minister Morawiecki changed his mind a few weeks later after a conversation with Minister Szumowski, Jaroslaw Kaczynski – answered the former deputy head of government.
Jonski wanted to know whether the decision on envelope elections had been made at the PiS headquarters.
– Organization of elections is a parliamentary issue based on agreements between parties, Govin said. According to the politician, he warned Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki about possible legal consequences for organizing the elections, because “responsibility rests with those who sign the documents.”
Envelope election
We remind you that the elections for the post of the President of the Republic of Poland were to be held in May 2020. The reason was given as the epidemic of COVID-19. However, in the end, envelope voting was abandoned. The elections were held traditionally.
At the beginning of December last year, the Seimas passed Creation of investigative committee on envelope elections. The commission is investigating “whether the organization and preparation of the elections caused the unfavorable management of the finances of the state treasury.”
In addition to former Vice Prime Minister Jarosław Govin, the commission will hear among others: former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, former Minister of State Property Jacek Sassin, former Head of Internal Affairs and Administration Mariusz Kaminski, former Head of the Prime Minister's Chancellery Michalo Dworczyk and PiS President Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
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