HTML clipboard

Ref: 35/2005

Date: 13 February 2005

Time: 11:00 GMT   

In the Context of Its Interest in the Electoral Process, PCHR Organizes a Colloquium on Palestinian Elections and Their Implications

On Saturday, 12 February 2005, PCHR organized a colloquium titled “Palestinian Elections and Their Implications”, in which many interested people, journalists, representatives of the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), civil society organizations and nationalist and Islamic partisan entities. The participants discussed the implications and legal framework of elections in two working sessions. 

Director of PCHR Raji Sourani opened the colloquium welcoming the attendants.  He stated that organizing this colloquium comes in the context of its continuous interest in the issue of elections which have gained wide public interest. 

The first session tilted “Elections and Their Implications” was facilitated by Rawia al-Shawa, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).  The speakers in this session were: ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Shahin, Member of the PLC; Dr. Ghazi Hamd, editor-in-chief of al-Resala Weekly; Saleh Zaidan, member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Khaled al-Batash, a leader of Islamic Jihad; and Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR. 

Mr. Shahin stated that the Palestinian elections gained wide spread interest.  He highly appreciated by the Palestinian public who’s awareness, in his view, ensured the close attention of Palestinian leaders. Dr. Hamad explained the Islamic movement’s position towards elections, pointing out that the death of President Yasser Arafat was a turning point. He added that following the elections, authority and decision making can only be decided by polling boxes. Mr. al-Batash spoke about the Islamic Jihad’s position towards elections, emphasizing that following the filling of the vacancy of the post of the President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), there is a need to adhere to the Palestinian people’s priorities, especially liberation, protection of the resistance’s achievements and coordination between the PNA and partisan entities.  In his intervention, Mr. Zaidan asserted that the political regime can never continue to exist without making reforms and that the presidential election would loose its essence it was not followed by local and parliamentary elections.  In his intervention, Mr. Sourani highly applauded the Palestinian people’s ability to hold such successful elections and peaceful transition of authority following the death of the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. He further asserted that election is a comprehensive process that means choosing polling boxes to resolve any differences.  These interventions were followed by an open discussion between the speakers and the attendants. 

The second session was facilitated by Jaber Wishah, Deputy Director of PCHR.  The speakers in this session were: ‘Abdul Karim Abu Salah, Member of the PLC; Jameel Majdalawi, member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; ‘Ammar al-Dwaik, Executive Director of the CEC; and Hamdi Shaqqura, Director of PCHR’s Democratic Development Unit. 

In his intervention titled “Amended Electoral Law,” Mr. Abu Salah spoke about the PLC’s vision of the electoral law and the amendments made to the law, including adopting of the mixed system of elections and increasing the PLC’s seats from 88 to 132.  He further asserted that the PLC would continue its efforts to ensure effective and serious participation in the political life to develop the Palestinian society. In his intervention, Mr. Majdalawi spoke about the purposed electoral system. He asserted that the electoral and political systems are interrelated, especially in the case of the Palestinian people who are under occupation, and highlighted the advantages of the principle of proportional representation. In his intervention titled “Guarantees of the CEC’s Independence,” Mr. al-Dwaik criticized the tendency to focus on the electoral system and the quotas, neglecting technical and procedural aspects of elections even though they are important as election is a procedural process that is conducted on one day. In his intervention, Mr. Shaqqura spoke about problems in Law 13 of 1995 in light of PCHR’s experience in monitoring the presidential election. In this regard, he focused on 4 points: the CEC; the election campaigning; the PNA’s neutrality; and the civil register. The session also witnessed an open discussion between the speakers and the attendants. 

This latest colloquium organized by PCHR’s Democratic Development Unit comes in the context of PCHR’s efforts to pursue the issue of elections in the capacity of its role as an accredited local monitoring organization that has monitored, and will do so in the future, the Palestinian elections to ensure freedom and fairness of these elections.                     

Public Document

**************************************

For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893

PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org