The presidential election in Poland was professionally managed despite legal uncertainty during the electoral process and gaps in regulating important aspects. These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the Polish presidential election held over two rounds on 28 June and 12 July 2020, as published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The decision to proceed with the constitutionally mandated election following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated legal and practical adjustments. However, some of the changes jeopardized the stability and clarity of the election legislation and had practical implications for candidate registration, campaigning and campaign finance, voting methods, and resolution of election disputes. Candidates campaigned freely but intolerant rhetoric, failure by the public broadcaster to ensure balanced and impartial coverage and cases of misuse of state resources diminished the process.

The report offers 33 recommendations to improve the conduct of elections in Poland and to support efforts in aligning them with OSCE commitments, as well as other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.

Key recommendations include:

• Ensuring that changes to electoral legislation, including for emergencies, follow the principle of stability of law and are timely, enabling a meaningful public debate
• Amending the legislation to adequately define and explicitly prohibit misuse of public funds, including campaigning by public officials and favourable treatment of incumbents by public media
• Ensuring the editorial independence of the public broadcaster, including through a transparent and competitive selection process for management and legal safeguards for financial sustainability and autonomy
• Upholding effective oversight during the campaign by setting up a related body provided with adequate powers to quickly tackle campaign finance-related complaints and enforce sanctions
• Guaranteeing the independence of the National Broadcasting Council through law and requiring the authority to actively monitor the broadcast media in order to fulfil its mandate to ensure impartial coverage
• Ending restrictions on the electoral rights of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities
• Reviewing the Election Code to provide an effective remedy regarding complaints that challenge the election results between the two rounds