Palestinian Municipal Elections: a Gradual Change

Mediterranean Politics | Middle East Palestinian Municipal Elections: a Gradual Change Hassan Balawi ities hostile or at least distant from the December 2004. This date was scrupu- In charge of the francophone pro- PLO The effects produced were quite lously adhered to, despite the death of Panorama gramme and Euro-Mediterranean the opposite the majority of those who President Yasser Arafat. relations won the municipal elections being very Palestinian Broadcasting close to the Palestinian centre. Corporation At this point the Israeli authorities re- Election phases sorted to the exile or imprisonment of its elected mayors, eventually allowing The law on local elections passed in De- groups of fanatic Israelis to attack those cember 1996 allowed the election of 2006 After boycotting the Oslo Accords, which elected by the Palestinians. Since then municipal council members to take were signed in September 1993 as part no election has taken place in the Pales- place with voting for a single member Med. of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tinian territories other than those in- in one round. The number of seats on the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, volving syndicates. the municipal council depends on the decided to seize hold of the Palestinian Since the return of the PLO in July 1994, number of inhabitants entered on the political system via municipal elections. a new dynamism has been developed, electoral roll. As far as the voters are Ahmed Qureï, ex-Prime Minister of the to the point that for the first time in the concerned, the law indicates that every Palestinian National Authority, declared Palestinian territories, presidential and person residing in the municipal terri- 127 2004-2005 to be election year for Pales- legislative elections were held in Janu- tory is a citizen, whether it is their place tinians, due to the fact that in the course ary 1996. But at municipal level, things of permanent residence or their place the year several types of election had to were handled differently, through the of work. But it did not give any expla- be held: municipal, legislative, presiden- nomination of municipal councils in the nation about the votes of refugees. An tial, and political elections for the Fatah whole of the West Bank and Gaza ter- implicit agreement was made on this movement, the party in power at the ritories. These nominations were con- subject between the minister of local heart of the PLO, and the Palestinian Au- trolled according to a system of regional government and the associations for thority. and tribal balancing inserted in the Pales- the defense of refugees in July 1997, The question of elections was infinite- tinian political system. which established a distinction between ly exploited, sometimes hoped for, even But this question of municipal elections the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. demanded by the USA, notably with was always at the centre of Palestinian Amendments to the electoral law of the declaration of President Bush in internal political and social struggles 1996 were introduced by the govern- June 2002, according to which the or- and demands. Thus the first law passed ment shortly before holding the munic- ganisation of elections and the emer- by the Palestinian legislative council was ipal elections of 2004/2005. The most gence of new leaders were a sine qua precisely one for local communities important was that one establishing a non condition for the creation of The Nevertheless, President Yasser Arafat minimum quota for the representation Palestinian State. This idea of Hamas has always preferred to shelve this ques- of women on municipal councils. This was abandoned when President Yass- tion for political reasons, which notably stipulated the election of at least two er Arafat, surrounded by Israeli tanks reveal the fear of the possible arrival of women per council, whatever the size since January 2001in the Mukataa at Hamas candidates at the head of mu- of the considered conscription. A pres- Ramallah, decided to organise general nicipal councils. But finally President idential decree of March 2005 equally elections. Yasser Arafat was obliged to give in to established a denominational quota for It should be remembered in this context the demands of the political parties and some localities which were historically that in 1976, when Israel wanted to dis- associated movements. This is how the or in the majority Christian. For the poll credit the PLO representative of the Palestinian Authority decided, after the of May 2005, this involved Bethlehem Palestinian people in Palestine, it al- Legislative Council passed the law of (where 8 out of 15 councilors had to be lowed the organisation of municipal elec- proportional elections, to organise the Christian) Beit Jala and Beit Sahour (7 tions hoping to see emerging personal- first phase of municipal elections on 23 councilors out of 13). Furthermore, the high central commit- 14 municipal councils, whilst Hamas In this fourth phase, which was held in tee of municipal elections decided to took control of 9 councils. This was 4 main towns in the West Bank, such as adopt a 5 stage process of elections therefore the first penetration of the Is- Ramallah, (centre of the Palestinian Au- across all of the Palestinian territories. lamic movement, which was to be fol- thority) Hamas won a net victory of 73% The reason given for this progressive lowed a month later by a very significant of the electoral voice, which allowed the method was the stable state of public victory by Hamas in the second stage on Islamist group to take control of 13 out security in each Palestinian locality, in 27 January 2005, when Fatah only of 15 municipalities. relation to the Israeli occupying forces. gained 2 out of 10 councilors in the It could be said that this stage was in Thus, according to this logic, the elec- Gaza strip. some way a first snapshot of the Pales- tions had to take place for the first time The second phase of the municipal elec- tinian political landscape, since a month in each locality under Palestinian con- tions took place on 5th May 2005; it later the Palestinian people elected a trol and not under Israeli military con- involved 84 municipalities (municipal strong Hamas majority to the legislative trol. councils, local councils, village coun- council, on 25 January 2006. cils) and villages in the West Bank (76) It should be noted that there was an and the Gaza Strip (8). More than important participation of international Rise of Hamas 400,000 electors were called to vote to observers in the whole electoral process Panorama elect 906 members of local councils. (there remains a 5th phase, which must The first phase was developed in two The level of participation was 82% of take place in the month of August or stages: a first election took place on some 400,000 people aged over 18 September 2006, which will involve the 23rd December 2004; it involved 26 years and eligible to vote. Fatah won rest of the large towns in the West Bank West Bank municipalities. A second 55% of the 906 available seats com- and Gaza, such as the towns of He- election took place on 27th January pared to 34% obtained by Hamas. This bron and Gaza). 2006 2005; it involved 10 Gaza Strip muni- result allowed Fatah to control some 50 All the reports of international teams in- cipalities. It should be noted that this municipal councils, compared to the 28 dicated that the whole of the Palestin- Med. first election took place 40 days after the of Hamas, the rest going to independ- ian election process, both the general death of the President Yasser Arafat ent or less important groups. However, and the municipal level, was carried out and a month before the presidential in this election, Fatah instigated court under democratic and transparent con- elections of 9th January 2005. proceedings over the proper conduct of ditions despite all the difficulties, due The second important factor in this Pales- the elections in certain polling stations mainly to the presence of the Israeli oc- tinian political scene was the participa- and this led to the court’s decision to nul- cupying forces. 128 tion for the first time of the Islamic re- lify the results of 4 polling stations in It remains only to say that the results of sistance group, Hamas, even though this the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. these elections are the fruits of a certain movement had been listed as a terrorist The third phase was held solely in the number of factors, linked simultaneous- organization since September 2003. The West Bank, on the 29 September 2005, ly to the Palestinian system itself, but also other organizations opposing the Oslo and the fourth, the most important one, to the pursuit of the Israeli occupation, Accords also took part in this election, was also held in the West Bank on the and the powerlessness of the interna- with the exception of the Islamic Jihad 15 th December 2005, just a month be- tional community to have international law movement. fore the second legislative elections respected. In the first stage of the first phase on the when Hamas officially announced its West Bank, the Fatah movement won in participation..

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