Finance minister Andrzej Domański has asked the country’s electoral body for clarification over a ruling that restored subsides to the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is now in opposition.

The party, which ruled from 2015 to 2023, has been accused of using government resources in its 2023 campaign for re-election.

An initial ruling found it had illegally spent around 3.6 million złoty (€840,000), but its accounts were eventually approved in December following a court ruling.

Domański said on Wednesday he had sent the matter back to Poland’s National Electoral Commission (PKW) for clarification.

In a post on X, he said that officials had analysed the PKW’s decision to eventually accept Law and Justice’s financial statements but they had found “numerous doubts.”

“I am obliged to clarify all legal doubts before implementing the resolution of the National Electoral Commission,” Domański wrote.

Speaking later on private news channel TVN24, the minister described the commission’s ruling as contradictory.

‘Fear more important than law’ - PiS

His move further heightens tensions in Poland’s bitterly divided political landscape, with PiS claiming that the governing coalition led by centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk is depriving it of essential funds.

Former PM Mateusz Morawiecki and other PiS politicians insinuated that the finance minister was acting under pressure from Tusk and mocked the notion that the commission’s decision required further clarification.

“Morawiecki wrote on X: “Clearly, fear of the school principal is more important that Polish law”.

The PKW made a U-turn in December after PiS went to one of Poland’s supreme court chambers to appeal against the electoral body’s initial ruling, which came amid allegations the party had acted illegally while in government.

The successful appeal staved off the prospect of Law and Justice losing almost €4 million ahead of this year’s presidential election.

However, the current government does not recognize the authority of the supreme court chamber since it claims many of the judges were illegally appointed by the previous administration.

In its initial decision last August, the commission said that PiS had spent public money on its 2023 parliamentary election campaign, listing electioneering at military recruitment events and an advertisement from the Justice Ministry as examples of misuse of funds.