WARSAW, Poland, Aug 31, (AP): Poland's electoral authority said Thursday that the former governing nationalist conservative party violated campaign funding rules in the 2023 parliamentary vote, and imposed a penalty worth millions of dollars that would undercut the party's resources for next year's presidential election.

The State Electoral Commission said that the campaign of the Law and Justice party, which led Poland from 2015-2023 and is now the main opposition force, improperly took 3.6 million zlotys ($930,000) in public money. The commission ordered the conservative party to repay the money, and it also ordered a cut in the party's government subsidies for the coming years, amounting to about 10 million zlotys ($2.5 million) per year.

The commission’s decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court, where Law and Justice still holds some sway. The court’s verdict would be binding and final. Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X that the party was now "learning the true meaning of the words law and justice.” The penalties would significantly reduce the party’s resources for the 2025 presidential election, in which it will seek to maintain its control of that office.

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda hails from the party but his second and final term ends next year. Mateusz Morawiecki, who served as Law and Justice prime minister in 2017-2023, said the commission's decision was "shameful” and was part of a "political game of the current government whose goal is revenge and pushing the opposition to the margin.” He said the government wants to weaken Law and Justice before the presidential election, and that the party would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.