Report: Palestinian Elections

Press Release

January 23, 2005

Kerry Candaele, Democracy Council’s Program Manager, led an observer delegation to the recent Palestinian Presidential race on January 9th. Joined in the effort by Suzanne Prince, the Democracy Council team worked under the auspices of the United Nations and in cooperation with American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), a humanitarian and relief organization active in the West Bank and Gaza. Along with several thousand local and international monitors, including representatives from the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, the Carter Foundation, the European Union and several Members of the United States Congress, the delegation participated in two days of election training, observation in the Hebron area on election day, and finally in a debriefing held on Monday following the election.

While, in general, the vote was considered a legitimate rendering of the popular sentiment among the Palestinian people, there were some problems expressed by Israelis, Palestinians, and the international community that should be thoroughly checked before the critical Palestinian Legislative Council elections scheduled for July, 2005.

In what proved to be a positive development, the Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and other potential hindrances to voters, were significantly eased for the election. Our monitoring team, which included three members of ANERA, traveled easily the fifty kilometers from Jerusalem to Hebron on election day. On a trip that would usually have taken twice as long even for those with guaranteed access to towns and villages in the southern West Bank, there were no lengthy stops or questioning.

We visited several polling stations throughout the scheduled 12-hour (7 a.m. to 7p.m.) voting day , including the city of Hebron itself, some smaller towns in the Hebron area, and a refugee camp near Yatta. At every polling place we met with local Palestinian observers—who often seemed to outnumber the voters themselves—local Palestinian Election Commission members, voting booth operators, and voters themselves. There were no long lines, no serious problems with voting, and while there were a few glitches, most notably in a few names not being present on local registries, these minor flaws are to be expected in any national election as we in the United States know quite well.

A notable exception to this general trend occurred in East Jerusalem, a place of contention for Palestinians both prior to and during the election, where we visited in the early evening. The Palestinian election commission was prohibited by the Israeli government from operating the polling places in East Jerusalem, based onlong-competing notions of sovereignty in the city. Israel instead allowed for 5,000 Palestinian voters, out of an estimated 120,000 eligible voters, to register and vote in five East Jerusalem post offices, and made arrangements for others to vote outside the city in Qulandia and Abu Dis. As a result, the turnout in East Jerusalem was minimal, and our observation at the busiest post office near the Old City confirmed that the process was chaotic, slow, and attracted considerable attention and concern from all observers present.

Other concerns expressed by opposition parties, most notably from Mustafa Barghouthi, the main challenger to the front runner, Mahmood Abbas, revolved around the issue of why the voting hours were extended to 9 P.M. as the day wore on and turnout seemed low. As most informed commentators noted before the election, Abbas needed a significant turnout to ensure large enough numbers to claim a “mandate” for his legitimacy as the Palestinian Authority president. Rumors circulated during the evening about senior Fatah officials pressuring the Election Commission to extend the polling hours to ensure a larger turnout. It wasn’t until several days later, with the resignation of 42 members of the Election Commission, and their testimony to the press, that it was indeed revealed thatFatah officials had pressed for the extended hours. "I was personally threatened and pressured," said senior Commission member Ammar Dwaik, who along with Baha al-Bakri led the CEC mass resignations five days later. In a public statement, al-Bakri noted that voting hours are typically extended only when there are long lines at the polling stations and affirmed that "this was not the case on election day.” While voicing these concerns, however, election officials also pointed out that the overall results of the election would not have been changed in any significant way had the coerced changes not occurred. But the nature of Mahmood Abbas’ mandate remains in question.

With Hamas opting to participate in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in July (Hamas boycotted the Presidential vote), the Palestinian political landscape remains to be sketched out in full. The July election will have profound repercussions for both the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, and the potential movement forward on all of the broader questions for Israeli/Palestinian negotiations, on questions of peace, and on the development of a viable Palestinian state. It remains clear, however, that questions about the sovereignty over East Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, border alignments, and the right of return, among other issues, will continue to be pivotal for any Palestinian government emerging from the July vote, an election that will perhaps be as important as the one that took place in early January. At such a critical moment, international monitors should be on hand again to work with Palestinians to help ensure that similar problems do not arise a second time.