On 24 January 2025, the Sejm adopted the so-called incidental act, establishing a special procedure for the Supreme Court to rule on the validity of the presidential election scheduled for 18 May 2025. On 12 February 2025, the Senate adopted the act without amendments.
It provides for the removal, contrary to the provisions of the Supreme Court Act, of the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court from adjudicating on the validity of elections, and replaces it with 15 judges with the longest service as Supreme Court judges. The vast majority of these judges were appointed during the communist era (Polish People’s Republic). Furthermore, the law constitutes an unprecedented act of interference by the legislative branch in the judiciary, consisting in the Sejm appointing specific judges to rule on a specific case. It also violates the prohibition, derived from the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal, on introducing significant changes to electoral law less than six months before elections.
On 10 March 2025, the Act was referred by the President of the Republic of Poland to the Sejm for reconsideration (vetoed).
