Editorial: The difference between law and justice

How serious a blow it was in their eyes we are only just learning.

Based on what seems to be a technicality - the late filing of her husband's wealth declaration - Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński announced: "Gronkiewicz-Waltz is no longer Mayor of Warsaw ... She has lost her mandate."

It has never been suggested that the belated declaration was misleading or incorrect. But PiS insists that there can be no remedy except nullifying the election results - effectively ignoring the voters.

In calling for new elections, PiS may be following the letter of the law. The question is: What purpose does it serve? More importantly, does it constitute justice?

The move smacks of opportunism. The voters of Warsaw spoke clearly when they elected Gronkiewicz-Waltz mayor. Also, the country would spend hundreds of millions of złoty organizing a new set of local elections for all of those who committed the same gaffe, not to mention the millions from the national budget that would be spent on campaign matching funds.

A group of respected legal experts have called on Parliament to pass a bill that would avoid this needless frittering away of public funds - and months of legal wrangling - by extending the deadlines for the filing of financial declarations. This is a sensible compromise, but compromise has not exactly been PiS' calling card. "There will be no amnesty," Interior Minister Ludwig Dorn declared.

PiS has insisted that their stubborn adherence to every detail of Poland's labyrinth of intricate laws serves the nation's interest. After their party's post-election uptick in poll numbers, it's hard to see how the insistence on new elections as the only conceivable remedy can serve anyone's interest but their own.