Report from the 6th Scientific Round Table of the Constitutional Judiciary “Free and Fair Elections” November 25, 2022, Department of Constitutional Law of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw

Abstract

a scientific seminar -the 6 th Constitutional Judiciary Roundtable -was held in Warsaw on the topic of "Free and Fair Elections". The event was organised by the Department of Constitutional Law at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. The three sessions concluded with a discussion, analysing the content and importance of free and fair elections in Poland. These topics are gaining importance, especially ahead of the elections scheduled for next years. Speakers and discussants drew attention to the role of courts and tribunals, this time in ensuring "Free and Fair Elections".Prof. M. Granat welcomed the guests, among whom were the President of the National Electoral Commission -judge S. Marciniak and S. J. Jaworski, the President of the NEC in 2009-2014. The moderator of the first session on the concept of free and fair elections was Dr. Hab. Katarzyna Kubuj, INP PAN. The papers were delivered by Dr. Hab. J. Flis, Prof. of the Jagiellonian University, titled "Challenges for the fairness of elections in Poland", Dr. Hab. P. Laidler, Prof. UJ, titled "Free and Fair Elections in Anglo-Saxon Legal Culture", att. Dr. M. Derlatka titled "The principle of free elections in the German Fundamental Law (does free mean reliable?)".J. Flis drew attention to the sensitive points as challenges to the fairness of elections in Poland. Pouring votes into ballot boxes is a bottom-up initiative, which is a small scale of abuse. It is very important to justify this behaviour, which is a sense of injustice. The speaker drew attention to irregularities in the counting of votes based on the 2014 examination of ballot papers. Moreover, electoral commissions in smaller units are smaller than in larger ones. The speaker raised the issues of demographic adjustment and practical aspects of the d'Hondt method. Another problem is coalition lists. The inter-party disproportionality index