We read in information published on the website of the President of the Republic of Poland:
On 22 November 2022, the President of the Republic of Poland signed:
The Act of 29 September 2022 on extending the term of office of the bodies of local government units.
The declared purpose of the Act of 29 September 2022 on extending the term of office of the bodies of local government units is to change the date of local government elections (i.e. elections to commune councils, county councils, voivodeship assemblies, councils of the districts of the Capital City of Warsaw, as well as elections of commune heads, mayors and city presidents) by extending the local government term of office until 30 April 2024. The need for this change results from the fact that, following the entry into force of the Act of 11 January 2018 amending certain acts in order to increase citizens’ participation in the process of electing, operating and controlling certain public authorities (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 130), which extended the term of office of the bodies of local government units from four to five years, the dates of parliamentary and local government elections became concentrated in 2023.
The Act is temporary in nature, meaning that its provisions introduce a temporary departure from a matter already regulated. The purpose of the Act is therefore to be achieved by extending the current term of office of local government authorities until 30 April 2024. Setting a specific end date for the term of office by statute will mean that the applicable provisions of the Act of 5 January 2011—the Electoral Code (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 1277)—will apply.
The Act also changes the date on which the number of residents of a local government unit is determined, which serves as the basis for establishing the number of councillors elected to a given council (instead of the last day of the year, the last day of the quarter preceding the deadline for publication of the voivode’s order establishing the number of councillors), and introduces the earliest date on which the voivode may announce the number of councillors determined in this way.
The opposition protested against the proposal, accusing the ruling party of manipulation intended to secure an advantage.
In a vote held at the end of October, all opposition parliamentary clubs and groups voted against the bill extending the term of local governments.
Instead, the opposition wanted the local government term or the term of the Sejm to be shortened in order to avoid parliamentary and local government elections being held on the same date.