Attempts to alter laws on elections and political parties prompt criticism

The Polish Peasants Party (PSL) and opposition parties have criticized the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Self-Defense (Samoobrona) for their attempts to amend the acts on political parties and election laws at the same time as a new local government law is being prepared. "We were finishing our work on the draft of changes for local government elections when an MP from Samoobrona presented a draft to change the method of counting the number of votes for seats in Parliamentary elections to the d'Hondt method, favoring big parties," said Civic Platform Deputy Waldy Dzikowski. Then, Professor Stanislaw Gebethner proposed an amendment to the act on parties. The amendment, proposed by the Institute of Public Affairs, is to grant state subsidies to political parties, reports on which will be rejected by the State Electoral Commission (PKW). Samoobrona and SLD deputies passed both amendments. "Is this the price that is paid by SLD from public money to Samoobrona for their political services?" asked Jerzy Czerwinski of the Polish Families Union (LPR). (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) P.W.