The Polish opposition conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party will submit a complaint to the public prosecutor’s office and will even notify the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) over its suspicions that information about the conservative presidential candidate, Karol Nawrocki, was leaked to the press by the country’s intelligence services.
Nawrocki, who is running as an independent candidate but is supported by PiS ahead of the election on May 18th, has accused the secret service of interfering in the campaign by trying to discredit him, and to benefit his rival, the liberal Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski.
A report by news website Onet claimed that Nawrocki lied about the number of apartments he owns. According to Nawrocki, the documents could only have come from a personal security questionnaire he had to fill in to get security clearance as the head of the Institute of National Remembrance.
In addition, liberal MEP Krzysztof Brejza posted a photo of a bank statement online as proof of Nawrocki buying a second apartment from his neighbour, despite the conservative candidate claiming beforehand that he only owned one apartment.
According to conservatives, this document, too, could only have originated from the intelligence services. Stanisław Żaryn, an advisor to current conservative president Andrzej Duda, said that “disclosing these materials constitutes a breach of the law, and passing them on for use in a political campaign is a very serious scandal.”
At a press conference on Thursday, May 8th, the leader of the PiS party, Jarosław Kaczyński, said the accusations are “so serious that we believe it is necessary to submit a notification to the prosecutor’s office.” Kaczyński said the affair is symbolic of the liberal Donald Tusk-led government’s unlawful attacks against the opposition.
