Complex sentence: Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the January 9,2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996; subsequent elections had been repeatedly postponed due to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Split into simpler sentences: Notwithstanding the 2005 municipal elections and the 9 January 2005 presidential election, this was the first election to the PLC since 1996. Subsequent elections had repeatedly been postponed due to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.