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Financing of political parties in Poland

Poland has a multi-party political system in which the Constitution emphasises the important role political parties play in the functioning of the democratic state’s laws and guarantees Polish citizens the freedom to form and operate political parties on a voluntary and equal basis (the principle of political pluralism). Importantly, the Constitution itself precisely formulates the purpose of the creation and operation of political parties: to influence the shaping of state policy by democratic methods.[1]

The Constitution establishes the principle that the finances of political parties should be open to public inspection,[2] although it does not define the manner of their financing. The principle of financing political parties with funds from the state budget[3] was introduced at a statutory level.

The process of financing parties from the budget requires transparency to ensure equality for all the parties. This equality may be limited by the introduction of a minimum threshold of support in elections in which party funding from the budget is conditional. This clearly favours parties that already have an established position in the political system. Nevertheless, public financing is a safeguard that protects parties from undue pressure from their funders.

The consequences of the distinguished role of political parties in the legal system are, on the one hand, especially when compared to other types of associations, special rights in the sphere of public life; on the other hand, there are also restrictions. Transparency in political party financing requires control, which the legislator has entrusted to the National Electoral Commission (NEC). It is the NEC that controls both the sources of the funds raised by political parties and the manner in which the funds are spent, including for the purpose of funding election campaigns.

Election campaign financing is controlled based on two types of reports:

- financial reports submitted by election committees to the NEC, which includes the revenues, expenditures, and financial obligations of the election committee, as well as information on bank loans obtained and the conditions under which the were obtained.[4]

- reports that each party submits by 31 March each year on the sources of funds obtained, including bank loans and the conditions for obtaining them, and on expenditures incurred from the Electoral Fund in the previous calendar year.[5]

On 29 August 2024 Polish public opinion was  stunned by the NEC’s decision to cut off one of the main parties’ access to funds paid from the state budget.

the NEC, based mainly on the recommendation of the ruling coalition, rejected the report of one of the electoral committees based on its participation in elections to the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland held on 15 October 2023.[6]

The basis for the financial report’s rejection was the NEC’s qualification of the non-monetary financial benefits of the adopted activities of entities related to the broadly understood sphere of activity of state bodies or entities dependent on these bodies, that is, the Government Legislation Centre, the Scientific and Academic Computer Network – National Research Institute, the Ministry of National Defence, and the [...] Special Economic Zone Joint-Stock Company. As a result of the electoral committee’s complaint against the resolution of the NEC, the Supreme Court in the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs, by its decision of 11 December 2024 in case I NSW 55/24, found the complaint justified.[7]

Since the law determines[8] the only possible sanction for acknowledging the legitimacy of a complaint, the acceptance of the complaint by the Supreme Court results in an automatic obligation of the NEC to accept the report. In other words, any defect in the NEC’s resolution – irrespective of its type and rank – necessitates elimination from the Polish legal sphere.

The NEC’s follow-up resolution to implement the abovementioned ruling on 11 December 2024 in the case I NSW 55/24 was passed on 30 December 2024.[9] In § 1 of the resolution, the NEC states that, in its execution of the Supreme Court’s ruling of 11 December 2024 in the case I NSW 55/24, it decided to accept the financial statements of the Law and Justice Committee. However, the content of § 2 of the NEC’s resolution is more interesting. The NEC stated there:

This resolution was adopted solely as a result of the acceptance of the complaint by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court and is immanently and directly linked to this ruling, which must come from a body that is a court within the meaning of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Election Code. In doing so, the State Election Commission does not prejudge the fact that the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs is a court within the meaning of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and does not prejudge the effectiveness of the ruling.

Despite the NEC’s resolution to accept the report and pass it on to the Minister of Finance, the funds have as yet not been paid.[10] At the same time, on 18 November 2024, the NEC rejected the Law and Justice political party’s report on its sources of funds, including bank loans and the conditions under which they were obtained, as well as expenditures incurred from the funds received from the Electoral Fund in 2023.[11] As a result of the Law and Justice party’s complaint against this resolution, the Supreme Court in the Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber in case I NSW 59/24, by a decision of 21 January 2025, found the complaint justified.[12]

Thus, the resolution of 18 November 2024 was also eliminated from the legal order, what imposes on the NEC the obligation to automatically accept the Law and Justice party's report on the sources of its funds in 2023. However, the NEC has yet to adopt such a resolution.

In summary, the Supreme Court’s cassation of both NEC resolutions, as well as the NEC’s issuance of the follow-up resolution of 30 December 2024 accepting the financial report of the Law and Justice Committee, resulted in an imposition on the Minister of Finance to pay budgetary funds to the party. Despite this, the Minister of Finance is contesting his statutory obligation. This could have serious repercussions for the stability of Poland’s political system, especially as presidential elections take place in 2025. In a situation where one of the main parties is cut off from budget funds, the ability of that party to campaign for the candidate it supports could be seriously affected. These circumstances may be relevant to the question of the validity of elections especially in the context of the principle of ‘equality of arms’ for all political forces.

Such a situation could lead to a further destabilisation in Poland. Undoubtedly, since at least the 18th century, this has been a situation favourable to foreign powers supported locally by contemporary merceneries – well-paid organisations, usually with a left-liberal profile, as shown by the USAID[13] ‘dossier’ or documents of the Norwegian Fund or the Batory Foundation.[14]

This makes us seriously consider to what extent the current situation and the anarchisation of the political system and the torpedoing of fair elections, which are the essence of democracy, is a stage spectacle[15] directed by other great powers[16] playing to weaken Poland. If we add to this the  increasingly grotesque undermining of judges, courts, and the legitimacy of court rulings, we can conclude that Poland is being deliberately destabilised. This question is all the more bothering in view of the fact that the main actors in this spectacle are the main state bodies – the government, its ministers, the Prime Minister, and the NEC dominated by persons appointed by the ruling coalition.


[1] Article 11(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Journal of Laws 1997.78.483 of 1997.07.16): The Republic of Poland shall ensure freedom for the creation and functioning of political parties. Political parties shall be founded on the principle of voluntariness and upon the equality of Polish citizens, and their purpose shall be to influence the formulation of the policy of the State by democratic means.

[2] Article 11(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Journal of Laws 1997.78.483 of 1997.07.16): The financing of political parties shall be open to public inspection.

[3] These issues are regulated by the Act of 27 June 1997 on political parties (Journal of Laws of 2023.1215), which states in Article 24 that the assets of a political party arise not only from membership fees, donations, inheritances, bequests, and property income, but also from subsidies and grants specified by law.

[4] Article 142 § 1 of the Election Code (Act of 5 January 2011 – the Election Code; Journal of Laws of 2023.2408).

[5] Article 5 (1) of the Act on Political Parties.

[6] Resolution No. 316/2024 of the National Electoral Commission of 29 August 2024 on the financial report of the Law and Justice Electoral Committee on elections to the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and to the Senate of the Republic of Poland held on 15 October 2023, on revenues, expenses and financial liabilities, including bank loans obtained, and the conditions under which they were obtained.

[8] Article 145 § 6 (1) of  of the Election Code.

[9] Resolution No. 421/2024 of the National Electoral Commission of 30 December 2024 on the financial report of the Law and Justice Electoral Committee on elections to the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland held on 15 October 2023; www.pkw.gov.pl/prawo-wyborcze/uchwaly-pkw/2024-r/uchwala-nr-4212024-pkw-z-dnia-30-grudnia-2024-r-w-sprawie-sprawozdania-finansowego-komitetu-wyborcze.

[10] 'There is no money and there will be no money. In my opinion, that is what results from the resolution of the National Electoral Commission' – this is how Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the resolution of the National Electoral Commission in a post on portal X; www.rmf24.pl/polityka/news-tusk-o-uchwale-pkw-w-sprawie-pis-pieniedzy-nie-ma-i-nie-bedz,nId,7883666#crp_state=1).

[11] Resolution No. 389/2024 of the National Electoral Commission of 18 November 2024 on the report of the Law and Justice party on the sources of its financial funds in 2023.

[13] “Trump withheld money from USAID. Some of Poland's left-wing media are in trouble”; DoRzeczy 9 lutego 2025; www.dorzeczy.pl/opinie/687838/brak-pieniedzy-z-usaid-liberalne-media-z-polski-maja-klopoty.html.

[14] “Batory Foundation under scrutiny: Norwegian funds to help leftist organizations”; Media Narodowe 16 lutego 2023; www.medianarodowe.com/2023/02/16/fundacja-batorego-pod-lupa-fundusze-norweskie-na-pomoc-lewackim-organizacjom/.

[15] Like in Shakespeare's play: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players”, W.Shakespeare, As You like It?; act 2, scene 7; www.scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/3f2712de-e880-40ac-b578-47c890004d13/content, p. 35.

[16] In the sense used by J.J.Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of great powers politics, Kraków 2019, p. 21-60.

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