Confederation candidate disqualified from Kraków mayoral race over invalid signatures
The far-right Confederation party's candidate for Kraków mayor was barred from the September 27 election after election officials rejected over 2,000 of the 5,000 signatures submitted to support his candidacy, prompting public apologies from party leadership.
The candidate of the far-right Confederation, Bartosz Bocheńczak, was 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", dismissing the candidate as head of his party's local structures in Kraków and launching an investigation into how the blunder occurred.
Electoral Context
The Kraków mayoral race was triggered by the recall of the previous mayor in May 2026 and represents a significant midterm test for Prime Minister Donald Tusk's ruling Civic Coalition (KO) party in one of Poland's largest and most liberal cities. The snap election, scheduled for September 27, has drawn strong support from opposition parties eager to strike a blow against the governing coalition.
In Poland, it is common for voter registration to differ from actual residence, creating technical hurdles for petition-based candidacies. The massive volume of invalid signatures—over 40% of those submitted—suggests serious administrative failures in the Confederation campaign's data-collection or verification process.
If you plan to vote in Poland's upcoming local contests, ensure you understand whether your residence address matches your official registration with electoral authorities (PKW). Many foreigners and internal migrants encounter registration mismatches that can affect both voting eligibility and petition-signature acceptance.
Sources
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