Institution of Non-Partisan Election Observers in the Polish Electoral Law

Abstract

The paper discusses a new institution in the Polish electoral law – namely, non-partisan citizen election observers. This institution, next to scrutineers and international election observers known previously to the Polish electoral system, is intended as another instrument of social control of the electoral process, increasing reliability and fairness of elections. This new institution was introduced by the Act of 11 January 2018 on amendments to some acts in order to increase participation of citizens in the processes of election and functioning and controlling of certain public bodies.The analysis performed allows to conclude that final evaluation of the role played by non-partisan election observers will be heavily influenced by observation of how this institution is used in actual elections, at least over one full electoral cycle.