Damian Tomiak, a councillor on the Osiecznica Municipal Council in the previous term and head of the Youth Fire Brigade operating at the local Volunteer Fire Department, also ran for a councillor’s mandate in this year’s local elections, representing Ziemia Bolesławiecka. He did not lose the election, but he will not become a councillor because... his name was not drawn.
“There was a tie in my district,” Damian Tomiak told “ii”. The would-be councillor received 62 votes. His opponent, the village head of Kliczków, Kazimierz Rowiński (SLD – Lewica Razem), received exactly the same support. However, Rowiński will take a seat on the Council because... he won the draw.
“The day after the election, the municipal commission met and held a draw. They drew the village head’s name. A great election,” Damian Tomiak says ironically. “It turned out to be a local-government lottery, not a genuine election. It was not the people who elected our councillor, but blind chance. I found out that this had happened on Monday. I do not know what to make of it.”
The tvn24.pl portal reached a representative of the municipal electoral commission in Osiecznica. She confirmed: “There was a draw involving sealed envelopes. The entire commission took part in the draw.”
The Electoral Code is clear:
If two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes entitling them to obtain a mandate, the election is decided by the greater number of precincts in which the candidates received the highest number of votes; if the numbers of precincts are also equal, the matter is decided by a draw conducted by the commission.
A similar situation also occurred in Miastko, Pomeranian Voivodeship, and in the village of Trzciano in the Ryjewo municipality (Pomeranian Voivodeship).
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