Krakow election commissioner rejects mayoral appeals from Bochenczak and Banas

Recount confirms disqualifications

The election commissioner in Krakow, Dagmara Daniec-Cislo, dismissed all four appeals submitted by mayoral hopefuls who failed to gather the required 3,000 valid voter signatures for the upcoming municipal ballot. The rulings left Konfederacja candidate Bartosz Bochenczak and former Supreme Audit Office (NIK) president Marian Banas disqualified from the race. Appeals from Stanislaw Kulach and Marta Ratuszynska were likewise rejected after their committees submitted 382 and 80 signatures respectively. With the appeal process concluded at the local level, the field for the snap mayoral contest is fixed at eight registered candidates.

Irregularities in signature lists

A secondary verification carried out by the Krakow delegation of the National Electoral Office produced lower valid signature counts than initial municipal checks. For Bochenczak, examiners reviewed 5,034 signatures and confirmed 2,745 as valid while rejecting 2,289, widening his deficit from the required threshold to 255. The municipal commission had earlier found 2,878 valid signatures out of 5,033. For Banas, the recount identified 2,048 valid signatures and 3,611 invalid entries out of 5,659 examined, down from 2,552 valid signatures during the initial review of 5,648 forms.

The scrutiny of Bochenczak's filing revealed widespread formal defects. The largest single category of rejection involved 686 signatures where the listed residential address did not match records in the Central Electoral Register. Another 588 signers lacked voting rights in Krakow, while 336 entries contained incorrect, incomplete, or illegible national identification (PESEL) numbers. The audit also uncovered 178 instances of duplicate endorsements, 137 discrepancies in personal names, 110 incomplete addresses, 97 illegible names, 93 individuals not listed in the voter register, and 31 forms lacking a date of signature.

Political fallout within Konfederacja

Before the recount results were finalized, Bochenczak voiced skepticism regarding the initial disqualification rate and announced plans to pursue every legal remedy.

I do not believe that over 40 percent of the signatures could be invalid.

The subsequent confirmation of the signature deficit prompted immediate disciplinary action from Konfederacja leadership. Party leader Slawomir Mentzen dismissed Bochenczak from his post as head of the Krakow district organization and suspended all members holding positions in local party structures, referring their cases to a party tribunal to establish individual accountability.

I cannot fail to draw consequences from this embarrassment.

The mayoral race ahead

The snap mayoral election is scheduled for 27 September 2026, with a potential runoff vote planned for 11 October. Krakow voters triggered the early contest in May by recalling incumbent mayor Aleksander Miszalski of Civic Coalition through a local referendum, after which government commissioner Stanislaw Kracik was appointed by the prime minister to administer the city.

The eight candidates certified by the municipal electoral commission represent a wide political spectrum. They include Michal Drewnicki of Law and Justice, Lukasz Gibala of Krakow dla Mieszkancow, Daria Gosek-Popiolek of Lewica, referendum co-organizer Jan Hoffman, Michal Klimek of the Confederation of the Polish Crown, Aleksandra Owca of Razem, Monika Piatkowska backed by Civic Coalition and the Polish People's Party, and Slawomir Pietrzyk of Social Democracy of Poland. Disqualified candidates retain the right to submit an appeal to the National Electoral Commission within two days of the commissioner's formal decision.