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Preliminary offical results of the Palestinian parliamentary elections

26 January 2006


Dr. Hanna Nasser, chair of the Central Election Commission announced in a press conference in Ramallah the official, but not final results of the parliamentary elections held on January 25th. The results show that Hamas won 76 out of the 132 seats whereas Fatah won 43 and the leftist parties won 9 and 4 for independent candidates. According to Nasser, the results represent only 95 percent of the total votes. The Central Elections Commission indicated that the number of voters reached 1,011,992. The total number of registered voters reached 1,332,396. The voting percentage reached 74.64%. 414 candidates competed for the 16 electoral districts and there were 11 electoral lists with 314 candidates competing nationwide. 

Authors discuss Munich's impact from both sides

John Hayes 23 December 2005


What has the world community done right and wrong? Abunimah: “They’re acting as if there are two equals of equal strength who can voluntarily come to an agreement. That’s not going to happen. One side has overwhelming superiority militarily and economically, and the other side has very few cards in hand. I think the world is putting its finger on the Israeli side of the scale.” What would you like people from the other side to know about your people? Abunimah: “Palestine is not going anywhere. We’re ready to live in peace with Israel on the basis of full equality — not second-class citizenship in the land of their birth. I am inspired by South Africa. Their conflict was three centuries old, but it came to a peace based on human rights, equal rights.” 

Preliminary Assessment of Polling and Vote Count Processes from Monitors

26 January 2006


On Wednesday, 25 January 2006, Palestinians cast their ballots to elect representatives in the Palestinian Legislative Council. These were the second parliamentary elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in 1994. PCHR registered minor violations by candidate and party supporters. The most notable violation was the continuation of campaigning at the entrances and inside polling centers. In addition, private media outlets continued to broadcast campaign messages for candidates and contesting parties, especially for the largest two parties. 

Annan congratulates Palestinian people on peaceful and orderly elections

26 January 2006


United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today congratulated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people on the peaceful and orderly conduct of their legislative elections. “The Secretary-General views these elections as an important step toward the achievement of a Palestinian State,” a UN spokesman said in a statement. “He looks forward to the publication of the results of the elections over the coming days and to discussing them with the Quartet.” In Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Annan, responding to press questions about the developments in the Palestinian legislative elections, said that “any group that wishes to participate in the democratic process should ultimately disarm.” 

Hamas Election Victory: A Vote for Clarity

Ali Abunimah 26 January 2006


Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections has everyone asking “what next”? The answer, and whether the result should be seen as a good or bad thing, depends very much on who is asking the question. Although a Hamas success was heavily trailed, the scale of the victory has been widely termed a “shock.” Several factors explain the dramatic rise of Hamas, including disillusionment and disgust with the corruption, cynicism and lack of strategy of the Fatah faction which has dominated the Palestinian movement for decades and had arrogantly come to view itself as the natural and indisputable leader. The election result is not entirely surprising, however, and has been foreshadowed by recent events. 

Palestinian Elections: Forcing the West to awake to the voices of the people

Eóin Murray Gaza City 26 January 2006


The cliche of the day was that Wednesday the 25th of January, the second elections of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was a festival of democracy. The Gaza Strip is a dusty stretch of land. But as the day passed and the night wore on we were surprised by the strength of the Hamas showing. Certainly anyone who has ever been to the Gaza Strip and witnessed Israeli human rights violations and the chaos on the streets because of the collapse of law and order is not shocked at a good showing by Hamas. Even more so after yesterday’s elections - now the world awaits the dusty political landscape to settle. Eoin Murray reports, Live from Occupied Palestine, in the Gaza Strip. 

Photostory: Palestinian Elections

25 January 2006


Polls have closed across Gaza and the occupied West Bank and the vote count has begun, after the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in a decade. Election officials say over 70 percent of the more than one million eligible voters turned out despite rain and cold winds to cast their ballots at more than 1,000 polling stations. East Jerusalem witnessed the highest turnout, between 80 to 90 percent, prompting the Central Elections Committee to extend voting until 9 p.m. An 81 percent turnout was registered in the Gaza Strip in comparison to 74 percent in the West Bank. A strong Hamas showing would indicate the movement’s call for change and reform clearly resonated with many voters, who were disappointed with the long-time rule of Fatah. 

Vanunu will appear in court for talking to press

23 January 2006


The International Federation of Journalists has called for an end to official harassment of Mordechai Vanunu - the man who told the world that Israel possessed nuclear weapons - as Israeli judges moved to send him back to jail for speaking to journalists. Vanunu will appear in court tomorrow, charged with violating restrictions that prevent him leaving the country and ban him from speaking to foreigners. If found guilty, he could be jailed for nine months on a total of 21 criminal counts. “This man has served his time for revealing what everyone has known for many years,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “Now he is being harassed simply for talking to journalists.” 

Polls close in Palestinian elections

25 January 2006


Preliminary results of the monitoring process indicate that the elections were held in an organized and quiet manner throughout the Gaza Strip, reflecting high levels of organization and professionalism by the Central Elections Committee (CEC). Voting was transparent, as it was conducted in the presence of candidate and party representatives, local and international monitors, and local and international media. Throughout the day, the CEC cooperated completely with monitoring bodies, and dealt seriously with all comments presented by monitors. Closure minutes were prepared in the presence of candidate and party representatives and monitors. Then, the vote count started. 

Palestinian Elections: Imposing a sense of normalcy on a highly abnormal situation

Rifat Odeh Kassis 25 January 2006


Elections are a normal practice in any democratic and free society. People go voluntarily to the voting polls to freely choose their political representatives. This democratic practice should be conducted in an open, transparent, regular and systematic manner. Unfortunately, most nations in the Middle East have not yet had the chance to enjoy this right on a regular basis. Ironically, the only countries in the region that do practice this right, with a reasonable degree of transparency, are Israel, Iran, occupied Iraq and occupied Palestine.