Presidential pardons in numbers. Has Duda used this right the least?

Pravda
Presidential pardons in numbers. Has Duda used this right the least?

The power of pardon is one of the most characteristic and simultaneously controversial prerogatives of the President of the Republic of Poland. Although it has a long tradition, its scope and application in practice are often the subject of fierce debates. One of the recurring issues in this regard is the number of pardons granted by individual presidents.

Pardon law is one of the most characteristic and simultaneously controversial powers belonging to the President of the Republic of Poland. Although it has a long tradition, its scope and application in practice are often the subject of fierce debates. One of the recurring issues in this regard is the number of pardons granted by individual presidents. Recently, we can also observe an increase in interest in this topic. This is reflected not only in the number of new posts on X, but also in the number of reactions and reach that these posts achieve. In the case of two of them, the number of views exceeds 300 thousand. 

In one of the more popular posts, user Adam Czarnecki writes: “Most often, President Wałęsa granted pardons – out of 3838 total decisions, 90% were positive. The most restrained? President @AndrzejDuda – with only 13.9% of pardons out of all applications.” With the end of the term of the current President, we decided to look at the numbers of pardons and check whether President Duda indeed used the pardon power the least.

Post by Adam Czarnecki on X from July 16, 2025 (reach: 313 comments, nearly 2 thousand shares, and over 340 thousand views) 

Pardon Law

According to Article 139 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic of Poland applies the pardon law. As stated on the official President's website, the President of Poland has the right to pardon a person convicted by a court for a crime – for example, to shorten the sentence or to completely waive it.

This right is used when the sentence proves to be too harsh or unjust in a specific case, e.g., due to difficult life circumstances, humanitarian reasons, or other important circumstances that appeared after the verdict and which the court could not consider. The decision to pardon is solely at the discretion of the President and is not subject to evaluation by other bodies. It is his personal right enshrined in the Constitution.

The President is not obliged to provide a justification for the decision regarding the use of the pardon law. However, the names and surnames of pardoned persons are protected by privacy law. Therefore, there are no publicly available lists of pardoned individuals, and the public only learns about the most media-covered and controversial pardons.

For example, Lech Wałęsa pardoned Andrzej Z., alias “Słowik” – a gangster from the Pruszków mafia, accused among others of thefts and robberies. Aleksander Kwaśniewski granted a pardon to Peter Vogl, convicted of murder and serving a life sentence. Lech Kaczyński pardoned Adam S., a business partner of his son-in-law, convicted of economic fraud. Andrzej Duda, on the other hand, has pardoned Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik twice – former heads of CBA convicted of abuse of power.

Decisions on Pardons – Comparison

The data below regarding the number of pardons by individual presidents was taken from a publication dated July 10, 2020, summarizing 5 years of Andrzej Duda’s presidency. Since this information was published after the first term of the President, the data on the number of pardons made by President Andrzej Duda comes from a publication by the Polish Press Agency (PAP) from July 16, 2025. PAP cites information received directly from the presidential office.

Between 2015 and 2025, President Andrzej Duda issued a total of 146 pardon decisions out of 1116 applications. Positive decisions accounted for 13% of the total. Compared to his predecessors, he has the lowest number of pardons. Lech Kaczyński used the pardon law in 201 cases (18%), and Bronisław Komorowski in 360 cases (19%). Significantly more such acts occurred during the presidencies of Aleksander Kwaśniewski (4302, approx. 62%) and Lech Wałęsa (3454, approx. 89%).

Own compilation based on communications from www.prezydent.pl and www.pap.pl (as of July 15, 2025)

In summary, the claims made in posts on X that President Duda used the pardon law the least, and President Wałęsa the most, are reflected in official information. However, it is worth mentioning that for a full understanding of the presented data, an analysis of the context considering the specifics of the political situation and the reasons for the decisions regarding pardons would be necessary.