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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
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Ref: 170/2004
Date: 04 December 2004
Time: 10:30 GMT
PCHR Starts Training of Local Monitors for Palestinian Presidential Elections
In the context of its preparations to monitor the Palestinian presidential election which will be held on 9 January 2005, PCHR has recently started to train a number of local monitors to observe the election in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with a number of civil society organizations.
PCHR is a monitoring organization accredited by the Palestinian Central Election Commission. It participated in monitoring the registration of voters, which started on 4 September 2004, through 20 monitors. As the date of the Palestinian presidential election was specified, PCHR intensified its efforts to recruit and train monitors to observe the next stages of the election, particularly voting, checking votes and declaration of results. PCHR has chosen 150 out of 2000 trainees who participated in training courses on human rights and democracy it organized in cooperation with a number of civil organizations.
The monitoring process is conducted in cooperation with a number of civil society organizations, especially the Palestine Bar Association, Women’s Affairs Center and Cana’an Pedagogical Institute. Also in cooperation with these organizations, PCHR has made contacts with possible monitors to train them and submit their application to be accredited by the Palestinian Central Election Commission to monitor the election throughout the Gaza Strip.
A few days ago, PCHR initiated an intensive training program for monitors to be able to acquire necessary skills to monitor the election. The training program is supervised by specialized trainers of PCHR’s Training Unit and Democracy Development Unit. PCHR has a significant experience in this field since it led the local monitoring process of the first and only Palestinian general elections under the Palestinian National Authority in 1996. The training program includes 2 days of intensive training for each group of monitors. On Thursday, 2 December 2004, PCHR concluded the first training session for 27 monitors in Gaza district. On Saturday morning, 4 December 2004, PCHR has started 2 similar training sessions in the central and northern Gaza Strip. The training program will be concluded on Thursday, 9 December 2004.
In the next weeks, PCHR will monitor the next stages of the election as part of its efforts to promote the principle of elections and to ensure the freedom and impartiality of the elections.
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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: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
