HTML clipboard
| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
|
Ref: 195/2004
Date: 30 December 2004
Time: 12:30 GMT
PCHR Calls upon the Central Election Commission to Amend Procedures of Counting Votes to Conform to the Law
On Thursday, 30 December 2004, PCHR sent a letter to Dr. Hanna Nasser, Head of the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), calling for reconsidering procedures of counting the votes accredited by the CEC to conform to Law 13 of 1995 Relating to Elections, according to which the presidential election will be held.
PCHR stated in its letter that in the context of its work as an accredited local monitoring organization, it reviewed the Guide on Procedures of Voting and Counting of Votes prepared by the CEC to organize the presidential election of 2005, according to Law 13 and its amendments. PCHR noted that the procedures included in the guide violate a number of provisions of Law 13, especially in two basic points:
1) Declaration of Initial Result at Electoral Constituencies
According to the procedures included in the Guide, “District Election Offices shall not declare any results in their electoral constituency.” Staff members of these offices will be required to send the results they conclude immediately to the CEC, which will gather the results coming from all constituencies and declare initial results. This procedure constitute an unjustified violation of the role of district election offices in declaring initial results, which violates article 82 of Law 13, which prescribes that “the District Election Offices shall receive and gather all the copies of the protocols sent by the Polling Station Commissions of their respective constituencies and add the electoral results contained in them as soon as possible.“
2) Counting of Votes by the CEC
The procedures included in the guide do not mention any role for district election offices in counting the votes after receiving protocols from polling station commissions in their respective constituencies. This omission is a violation of article 84 of Law 13, which prescribes that “each District Election Commission shall, once the protocols sent by all the Polling Station Commissions [of its constituency] are received, commence the scrutiny in its constituency.” According to the same article, “the scrutiny of the District Election Commission shall consist of the study of the protocols sent, of the filed claims, and of the contested ballot papers, verifying the data stated in them.” It further adds that “the District Election Commissions shall hear the candidates, candidates’ agents or candidates’ representatives who filed any claim. The District Election Commission shall adopt a decision on each filed claim and shall make public the election results for the constituency.”
PCHR called upon the CEC to reconsider the procedures of counting the votes which it has accredited for the presidential election of 2005 to conform to Law 13 of 1995 Relating to 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
