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Polish ruling party seeks partial vote recount for Senate race

22.10.2019 07:50
Poland’s ruling conservatives have asked the country's Supreme Court to allow a partial recount of votes in the race for the upper house of parliament.
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Pixabay LicenseImage by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The governing Law and Justice (PiS) party won Poland's October 13 parliamentary election and secured a second term in power.

It maintained a majority in the 460-seat lower house, but narrowly lost control of the 100-seat upper house, the Senate.

Law and Justice spokeswoman Anita Czerwińska told private radio broadcaster RMF FM on Monday that her party wanted votes recounted in some electoral districts due to a large number of invalid votes combined with small differences between candidates.

The party’s Krzysztof Sobolewski told public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency that Law and Justice's request for a vote recount in six electoral districts was justified by the fact that “the total number of invalid votes” there was “higher than the difference between the winning and losing candidates."

The upper house has power to initiate legislation, and it can also defeat bills approved by the Sejm, the lower house. The Sejm needs to muster an absolute majority to override Senate amendments.

The Supreme Court has 90 days to rule on the validity of elections.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR, rmf24.pl