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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
|
Ref: 04/2005
Date: 04 January 2005
Time: 09:00 GMT
Procedures Added by the Central Election Commission to the Process of Counting Votes Are Positive But Not Sufficient
PCHR welcomes the step taken by the Central Election Commission (CEC) adding new procedures to those it had already decided concerning the process of counting of votes in the presidential election that will be held on 9 January 2005. However, the new procedures are still not sufficient to conform to the electoral law.
On 30 December 2004, PCHR sent a letter to Dr. Hanna Nasser, President of the CEC, calling for reconsidering the procedures of counting of votes decided by the CEC in order to fully conform to Law 13 of 1995 Relating to the Elections. In its letter, PCHR pointed out that these procedures violate some provisions of the law in two main points: 1) Abolishment of the role of a district election office in declaring initial results at the level of its respective electoral constituency; and 2) Abolishment of the role of district election commissions in the counting of votes.
On Monday, 3 January 2005, PCHR received a copy of a communiqué issued by the CEC adding new procedures to the Guide of Polling and Counting of Votes to be a part of this guide. These new procedures include that a district election office shall obtain results from the polling stations in its respective electoral constituency and count the votes received each candidate publicly and in the presence of observers and agents of partisan entities. This procedure responds to the first point raised by PCHR in the aforementioned letter and conforms to the provisions of the electoral law. The previous procedure that had been into force prescribes that” responsibilities of district election offices shall not include gathering and declaring any results of the elections at the level of their respective electoral constituencies.”
Nevertheless, the new procedures did not respond to the second point raised by PCHR regarding the omission of the role of district election commissions in the counting of votes after receiving electoral protocols from their respective polling stations. PCHR points out that this procedure violates article 83 of Law 13 of 1995 Relating to the Elections, which prescribes that each district election commission shall “commence the scrutiny in its constituency.” The scrutiny “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.” Each district election commission “shall hear the candidates, candidates’ agents or candidates’ representatives who filed any claim” and adopt a decision on each filed claim.”
While PCHR welcomes the added procedures adopted by the CEC regarding the polling and scrutiny, it reiterates its call to add other procedures to ensure that district election commissions can practice all of their powers prescribed by Law 13 of 1995 Relating to the Elections.
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Public Document
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