Gdańsk prosecutors seek conditional dismissal for nine election officials after presidential vote count error

Discrepancy in Gdańsk precinct

The District Prosecutor's Office in Gdańsk has concluded its inquiry into voting discrepancies recorded in District Electoral Commission No. 17 during the second round of Poland's presidential election. Official protocols compiled by the polling station attributed 585 votes to Karol Nawrocki, the candidate backed by Law and Justice, and 346 votes to Rafał Trzaskowski, the candidate representing Civic Coalition. A subsequent review revealed that the figures had been inverted during the reporting process. In reality, voters in the district cast 583 ballots for Trzaskowski and 343 ballots for Nawrocki, giving Trzaskowski the local victory.

Inquiry and charges against commission members

The prosecutor's office initiated the formal investigation on 26 June 2025 following reports of irregular data transfers into the central IT system of the National Electoral Commission. Evidence gathered during the inquiry led prosecutors to present charges against all nine members of the precinct electoral commission under Article 231, Section 3 of the Polish Penal Code. The provision penalizes the unintentional failure to fulfill official responsibilities. The allegations specifically addressed neglect in verifying vote calculations and certifying electronic entries without examining the physical paperwork. Most of the nine suspects admitted to the charges and provided consistent testimonies regarding the incident.

Input error and lack of document checks

According to the suspects' statements, the numerical inversion happened when entering voting figures into the electoral software. Commission members consistently explained that Trzaskowski had won the precinct and stated that they trusted the digital interface to match their manual count. As a consequence of that assumption, the members signed the printed protocol generated by the system without conducting a line-by-line verification. Once the error became apparent in published results, the commission members notified authorities to rectify the record.

Terms of the prosecutor motion

On 29 September 2026, the prosecutor submitted a motion for conditional discontinuance of the case to the Gdańsk-Południe District Court. The application requests a one-year probationary period for all nine suspects, running from the moment the court ruling becomes final. The prosecution also asked the court to order financial contributions to the Victims' and Post-penitentiary Aid Fund, with individual amounts set between 500 PLN and 3,000 PLN. District prosecutor spokesperson Mariusz Duszyński explained why the office decided against issuing an indictment.

After analyzing the collected evidence, the prosecutor concluded that the guilt and social harmfulness of the act committed by the suspects are not significant.

Judicial decision pending

Duszyński noted that the suspects had clean criminal records regarding intentional offenses, expressed remorse, and cooperated immediately after realizing the counting mistake. The prosecution assessed that their personal backgrounds, living conditions, and general conduct demonstrate they will respect legal standards going forward.

The personal characteristics, personal conditions, and previous lifestyle of the suspects do not preclude the conditional discontinuance of proceedings in this case.

The Gdańsk-Południe District Court will evaluate the prosecution's application and determine whether to approve the conditional discontinuance of the criminal proceedings.