On Monday, September 2, Onet reported that PiS had already raised 1.8 million PLN in the fundraiser launched before the weekend. However, according to WP, which published its findings a few minutes later, the amount is even higher, approaching 3 million PLN. A PiS politician told Wirtualna Polska that weekend payments are still being processed, which may explain the discrepancies in the data.
The Goal Was One Million, We Have More Than Twice That
said WP's source.
PiS Raises Money, Exceeds Their Goal
PiS began fundraising on August 30, officially for the presidential elections, but Jarosław Kaczyński appealed for contributions after the National Electoral Commission (PKW) rejected the financial report of the PiS election committee from the last parliamentary campaign on August 29. The party is likely to lose around 57 million PLN and will be deprived of subsidies until the end of the term, which is until 2027. The subsidy for PiS will be reduced by 10 million PLN to 28 million PLN. The PKW accused the PiS committee of irregularities in election campaign financing amounting to 3.6 million PLN. Additionally, PiS has a 15 million PLN bank loan.
It’s Bad, But Not Dramatically Bad
commented a PiS politician for WP.
Despite the party surpassing its fundraising goal, there is no "overwhelming optimism" among its members. Politicians expect that donations will now slow down. "The most loyal voters who wanted to contribute have already done so. That's why we're now thinking about a broader information campaign, though without going overboard" - said the WP source.
From the beginning, there were also problems with payments, which must be marked as donations. Not everyone meets these requirements; some intentionally write offensive content against the party in the transfer title. But even PiS supporters show creativity - one payment was titled "for the fight against Tusk's regime." Such transfers must be returned for formal reasons. "We will handle this, but we don't want to say how" - said the party's treasurer, Henryk Kowalczyk, in an interview with money.pl.
At most, we’ll announce that the transferred amounts can only be collected in cash at the party headquarters between 10 AM and 12 PM. Let’s see how many people actually come forward
said another PiS politician, speaking to the portal's editorial team. Another politician claims that a decision has already been made, and the money will not be returned to donors but will be transferred to the State Treasury account. "Refund transfers are too expensive to process on this scale" - he explained.
Controversial Request for PESEL Numbers: "This Violates Regulations"
The information PiS demands in the transfer title raises legal concerns. The party requests that donors include their name, surname, address, and PESEL number. Providing this information is somewhat justified because only Polish citizens residing in Poland are allowed to make donations to party accounts. However, a note stating "resident in the territory of the Republic of Poland" would suffice.
Lawyers consider the PESEL number to be excessive. "The executive regulations to the Political Parties Act do not authorize the processing of personal data in the form of a PESEL number concerning persons making donations to these parties" - said Wojciech Dąbrówka, a lawyer and election law expert, in an interview with TVN.
