Far-right candidate excluded from Kraków mayoral election after signature blunder
The candidate of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), one of Poland’s main political groups, has been disqualified from Kraków’s mayoral election after over 2,000 of the signatures from local residents collected in support of his candidacy were found to be invalid. One of Confederation’s leaders, Sławomir Mentzen, admitted that the situation was an “embarrassment” and “catastrophe”. […]
Far-right candidate Bartosz Bocheńczak, a member of Poland’s main political group Confederation, has been disqualified from Kraków’s mayoral election due to over 2,000 invalid signatures collected in his favor. Confederation leader Sławomir Mentzen acknowledged the situation as an "embarrassment" and "catastrophe" and dismissed Bocheńczak as head of his party’s local structures in Kraków.
He also initiated an investigation into the blunder. This is not the first time Confederation has faced scrutiny over signature collection issues; last year, the National Electoral Commission rejected the party's financial report for the 2024 European elections due to irregularities, resulting in the loss of state subsidies. Bocheńczak is not the only candidate to struggle with signature collection; last week, independent candidate Łukasz Gibała was also found to have over 3,000 invalid signatures, while three other independent candidates failed to gather enough signatures and have taken up the right to appeal against the commission's decision.
As of now, six candidates have been accepted for the election, including Gibała, Monika Piątkowska, Michał Drewnicki, Aleksandra Owca, and Michał Klimek. Two candidates, Daria Gosek-Popiołek and Sławomir Pietrzyk, are still awaiting confirmation on their signature collection. The first round of the election is scheduled for September 27.
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