After casting their votes, many voters wonder one thing – when will we know the results?
2023 Polish election results
Many people will be eagerly awaiting the outcome of this year’s elections and the national referendum held in conjunction with them from the minute they cast their ballots.
The findings of the exit poll will be the first information available after 9:00 p.m. when voting in district commissions around the nation closes at 7:00 a.m.
Even though they are frequently quite accurate, it has occasionally happened that the result discovered the next day was somewhat off.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that there is much impatience in the air, which, most likely, won’t be placated on Monday, the day following the elections, as has already been the case, among other things.
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the final distribution of parliamentary seats was announced on Monday afternoon.
Results later than usual
Despite the most optimistic predictions pointing to the night between Monday and Tuesday, expert predictions and statements from Sylwester Marciniak, the head of the National Electoral Commission, show that we can realistically expect the election results only on Tuesday, with the commission functioning effectively already before noon.
There are two causes for this situation.
First of all, there will likely be a record number of voters, which will require a significant number of cards to be counted by district committee members.
Second, because a national referendum is being held concurrently with the elections, they will frequently have to deal with three ballots rather than two (for the Sejm and Senate).
All this will impose more work and responsibilities on the committee members than usual, which should be performed not only efficiently, but above all reliably.
Announcing the results to the Sejm step-by-step
We can say that everything starts at the district electoral commissions, using the Sejm elections as an example because they likely sparked the most emotions.
This is also true for referendums and Senate elections, with some differences occurring later on.
Their members tabulate the votes cast for particular parties, record the outcomes of these computations in a protocol, and then provide the document to the district electoral commissions.
The district commissioners next tally the votes from the districts and determine the voting results in the district using the gathered protocols.
These results are then recorded in the district commissions’ own protocols and sent to the National Electoral Commission.
From that moment on, the election results are determined through the joint work of the district commissions and the National Electoral Commission.
Re-establishing
The National Electoral Commission mandates a rerun of the election if any abnormalities are discovered in the findings of one of the district commissioners.
The National Electoral Commission determines the outcome of the vote on a national level if there are no irregularities or after potential redetermination of the results in district commissions.
Additionally, it details which committees and their lists have satisfied the standards, including reaching the electoral threshold of 5% for parties and 8% for coalitions, to be eligible to take part in the allocation of parliamentary seats.
It then sends this information to district committees, who apportion the seats according to the so-called d’Hondt method using this information and the candidate lists.
The results of this division are made public immediately by the district electoral commission.
After submitting them to the National Electoral Commission, it checks the correctness of their determination and then announces the election results on a national scale in the Journal of Laws and makes them public.
New MPs receive election certificates directly.