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Ref: 184/2004

Date: 22 December  2004

PCHR Receives a Number of Members of the EU Mission to Monitor the Palestinian Presidential Election

On Wednesday, 22 December 2004, PCHR received a number of members of the EU mission to monitor the Palestinian presidential election, which will be held on 9 January 2005.  The delegation, which included 9 members of the mission, was headed by Ron-Helmut Herrmann, an international expert in electoral affairs. 

Members of the delegation met with Director of PCHR Raji Sourani, Director of PCHR’s Democratic Development Unit Hamdi Shaqqura and staff members of PCHR’s International Unit at PCHR’s offices in Gaza City.  During the meeting, Mr. Sourani briefed members of the delegation on PCHR, its activities and its units.  He also talked about elections, emphasizing the importance of the election process as the best method through which representatives of the people can gain legitimacy.  Mr. Sourani asserted that it is necessary to have appropriate conditions to hold free and impartial elections, including facilitations that must be provided by Israeli occupation authority through lifting the siege imposed on Palestinian communities and stopping extra-judicial killings, arrests, and other practices that can disrupt the lection process. 

Director of PCHR’s Democratic Development Unit Hamdi Shaqqura, who supervises PCHR’s activities in monitoring the election, answered a number of questions raised by members of the delegation regarding the registration of voters.  In this context, Shaqqura explained PCHR’s activities in monitoring the process of registration, indicating that PCHR has continued activities of monitoring as part of its interest in the election process, not only monitoring the process of registration of voters, but also training a number of local monitors to observe the presidential election. 

The meeting also included a deep discussion, during which members of the delegation raised a number of inquiries regarding the status of Palestinians who do not have identity cards and the possibilities of their participation in elections, the status and role of women in elections, the situations in refugee camps and whether there are facilitations to allow their residents to participate in election, electoral constituencies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and their duties, registrars and their training, and PCHR’s efforts to train local monitors. 

Also during the meeting, PCHR’s representatives highlighted the restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians imposed by Israeli occupation authority, including the continued closure of Rafah Terminal on the Egyptian border, which is the only outlet for the Gaza Strip to the outside world, asserting the impossibility of holding free and impartial elections under such restrictions.  In this regard, PCHR’s representatives asserted that it is necessary for the mission to monitor the Israeli measures which are supposed to be taken to facilitate holding the elections and ensure the right of Palestinians to have elections. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, PCHR and the delegation agreed on coordination and communication between the two sides to exchange information and expertise with regard to the election process and monitoring.     

”END”

PCHR Receives a Number of Members of the EU Mission to Monitor the Palestinian Presidential Election

Public Document

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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: [email protected], Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org