Source: http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/dissertationen/mukhimer-tariq-2005-07-13/HTML/chapter5.html
Timestamp: 2015-03-03 03:21:02
Document Index: 32100455

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 1', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 3', 'Art. 5', 'Art. 60', 'Art. 9', 'Art. 14', 'Art. 88', 'Art.89']

Tariq Mukhimer:
State Building Process: The Case of Palestine
Tariq Mukhimer: State Building Process: The Case of Palestine
[Front page] Chapter: Introduction | Chapter I: The StateTheoretical Framework and Arab State | Chapter II: The Palestinian Autonomy Historical Overview | Chapter III: Gaining Autonomy through Oslo On the Peace, the People, and the Authority | Chapter IV: The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)The Incomplete Democracy | Chapter V: The Oslo AutonomyA Functional Perspective | Chapter VI: The Al-Aqsa intifadaThe Struggle for Reform | Conclusion [Acknowledgement] [GLOSSARY] [Bibliography] [Declaration] Citenumber: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356357358359360361362363364365366367368369370371372373374375376377378379380381382383384385386387388389 [Table of contents] Chapter IV: The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)The Incomplete Democracy
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One of the most notable events of the interim period was the Palestinian elections of January 1996. The elections, were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council and for President of the PA, were promoted by article I of DOP, which stipulated that “the aim of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations...is, among other things, to establish a Palestinian Interim self-Government, the elected council (the “council”), for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, for a transitional period not exceeding five years,....”. Article III of DOP elaborated: “in order that the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza may govern themselves according to democratic principles, direct, free, general political elections will be held for the Council under agreed supervision and international observation....” Article III of Oslo II reasserted these elections; “the Palestinian council and the Rae’s (president) of Executive Authority...will be elected by the Palestinian people of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip for the transitional period agreed in Article I of the DOP.” The protocol of elections, was parallel to Oslo II (Annex II), elaborated the basis of these elections, including the mode of agreed supervision and international observation; rules and regulations regarding election campaign; the qualifications of voting; nomination; the provisions of the election campaign; and so on. Art. 1 of the protocol provided a national Central Elections Commission (CEC) appointed by the PA for the purpose of supervising elections.407 The CEC was assisted by sub-commissions at local level, which in turn set up a committee in each polling station with the aim of electoral registration (to register all persons qualified to vote). ↓178
To be eligible to vote, every Palestinian must be 18 years old or older, having a permanent residence in the polling district (clearly to prevent Diaspora Palestinians from voting), and not subject to a sentence by a Palestinian court (Art. 2 of the Protocol). With respect to nomination, the protocol denied those who “commit or advocate racism; or pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non-democratic means”, the right to run for election (Art. 3). The Palestinian Electoral law, which Arafat ratified on 7 December 1995,408 reaffirmed these principles and established a majority voting system with 16 constituencies for the election of the Palestinian legislative council members. In this connection, the West Bank (including Jerusalem) was divided into eleven constituencies; Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Tubas, Silfeet, and Ramallah. Similarly, the Gaza Strip was divided into five constituencies; Jabalia, Gaza city, Deir El Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah. Despite this, special regulation was made with regard to Nablus, where an additional seat among the 88 seats of PLC409 was reserved to the Samaritan sect (Art. 5). Also, six seats based on the quota system were reserved to the Christian community in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The number of seats that each constituency contained was proportionate to the size of the population of the constituency compared to the total population.Though the decision of the number of seats each constituency elected and any other issues related to the elections, such as the nomination period and the date of elections, was supposed to be taken by CEC,410 it was Arafat who ultimately decided these issues. On 13 December 1995, for instance, Arafat issued his decree no. 1 for the year 1995, designating 20 January 1996 as elections day and the nominee registration period as nine days starting on 14 December.411 On the following day (14 December) he issued his decree no. 2 distributing the 83 seats of the council among the sixteen constituencies as in the accompanying table:
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Silfeet
Su-total
Source: Decree no.2 for the year 1995 in Al Waqaea’. op.cit, no.10, 2ed year, 31/12/1995.
When the Israeli government permitted Palestinians to expand the number of PLC seats to 88, Arafat was the one who decided on the distribution of the additional five seats when he issued his decree no. 5 on 28 December 1995, to assign one further seat to each of the following constituencies: Khan Younis, Jerusalem, and Hebron; and two seats to Gaza.412
With respect to the election of the PA president, the WBGS (including east Jerusalem) were treated as one electoral constituency, not sixteen as in the case of the election of PLC members (Art. 60, Para. 4 of the electoral law). This entailed that each member of the electorate had one vote for the election of PA president, and as many votes for the election of PLC members as his constituency had seats in the council. For example, if a given constituency had seven seats in PLC, then each elector in this constituency could distribute their vote among all seven candidates for these seats or, if he preferred, among two or even one candidate. Electors thus had the option to vote for more than one candidate or party as well as for other candidates who might prefer to run in the election as independents, since the nomination of candidates was open to parties and independents as well.
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The candidacy for presidency was opened to every Palestinian who had a permanent residence in WBGS and was 35 years old or older on the day of the elections. Meanwhile, the candidacy for PLC seats was opened for every Palestinian who was 30 years old or older on the day of the elections and enjoyed also a permanent residence in WBGS (Art. 9 & 12 of the electoral law). Members of the PA cabinet, civil servants, members of municipal councils, and security forces personnel were denied the right to run in the election unless they resigned their positions ten days prior to the issuance of the final nominees lists (Art. 14). In the election of the president the candidate who receives the highest number of votes is elected. In case there is only one candidate, this candidate must receive more valid votes than there are blank or invalid votes (Art. 88). For the election of PLC, the best-placed candidates win the seats of their constituency. But in case this constituency is among the partial quota-based constituencies ( for example, if two seats are reserved for Christians among, say, eight seats of a given constituency), then the two best placed among Christians win these two seats even if the counterpart Muslim candidates received a higher number of votes (Art.89). The same principle was applied in Nablus constituency, where one seat was reserved to the Samaritan sect. The 1996’s Palestinian Elections
On 20 January 1996 1,132,235 Palestinians, registered as eligible voters, they were able to vote at any one of 1696 polling stations distributed between the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The aim was to elect 88 PLC members from 676 candidates who had nominated themselves. Nearly half of the eligible voters were women, whereas only 22 of the candidates were (3.25%).413 The table below shows the distribution of, polling stations, candidates, and registered voters between the West Bank and Gaza.
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No. of Polling Stations
665,603
347,632
1,132,235