Palestinian Elections
The 1996 Presidential and Legislative Elections
The first Palestinian General Elections were held on January 20, 1996 in accordance with Article III of the Oslo Accords and the subsequent Palestinian Elections Law of 1995. The aforementioned Law adopts the electoral district system, block vote and open lists.
The Palestinian territories were divided into 16 electoral districts, 11 in the West Bank and 5 in the Gaza Strip. The following are key figures and results of the 1996 elections:
a. Voter registration and turnout
- Registered voters totaled 1,028,280.
- Voter turnout was 736,825 or 71.66% of total registered voters.
- The total valid votes was 715,966 or 97% of total cast votes.
b. Election observers
The elections were observed by 519 International observers and more than 2000 local observers. In their final report observers deemed that the elections had been conducted in a free and democratic manner.
c. The Presidential election
Two candidates competed for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority: Mr. Yasser Arafat and Ms. Samiha Khalil. Mr. Arafat won the election with 88.2% of the votes.
d. The legislative elections
- 672 candidates, 370 from the West Bank and 302 from Gaza, competed for a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council.
- Candidates included 25 women. Five won, constituting 5.7% of the 88 member PLC.
e. Allocation of seats per district
PLC seats per district were allocated through the Presidential Decrees of the 14th, 28th and 30th of December 1995. The seats were allocated as follows:
GAZA STRIP |
Gaza North |
7 |
Gaza City |
12
(of which 1 is a Christian seat) |
Gaza Central / Dier El-Balah |
5 |
Khan Younis |
8 |
Rafah |
5 |
Gaza Strip Total |
37 |
|
WEST BANK |
Jerusalem |
7
(of which 2 are Christian seats) |
Jericho |
1 |
Ramallah |
7
(of which 1 is a Christian seat) |
Bethlehem |
4
(of which 2 are Christian seats) |
Jenin |
6 |
Hebron |
10 |
Nablus |
8
(of which 1 is for Samaritan Jews) |
Tubas |
1 |
Salfit |
1 |
Tulkarem |
4 |
Qalqilya |
2 |
West Bank Total |
51 |
f. Results of the 1996 Elections
Presidential Elections |
Percentage of Votes |
Mr. Yasser Arafat |
88.2 |
Mrs. Samiha Khalil |
11.5 |
|
Legislative Council |
88 Seats |
Fatah
(Palestine Liberation Movement) |
55 |
Independent Fatah |
7
|
Independent Islamists |
4
|
Independent Christians |
3 |
Independents |
15 |
Samaritans |
1
|
Others |
1 |
Vacant |
2 |
2006 PLC Elections:
On Sunday 29th January 2006 in the presence of representatives of the electoral lists, the Central Elections Commission verified the protocols of the preliminary count. The CEC also looked into the various complaints submitted to it, the respective responses of the electoral districts and the extent of their legality.
The CEC also demonstrated the manner in which the protocols and data are entered electronically, as well as the manner in which it deals with complaints that it has received – all of which deal mainly with the behavior of candidates and their lack of respect of campaign regulations, meaning that they have no implications on the results.
The CEC released the final results of the count which were as follows:
The list of Change and Reform obtained 74 seats; the Fatah Movement obtained 45 seats; the list of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustapha obtained 3 seats; the Alternative received 2 seats; Independent Palestine received 2 seats; the Third Way received 2 seats; and the Independents list obtained 4 seats.
These results represent a slight change in the preliminary results released by the CEC at its press conference on 26th January which were based on only 95% of the count. The final results gave Fatah two extra seats – 1 in the electoral lists and 1 in the district of Khan Younis.
Any candidate or electoral list or one of their agents or representatives can challenge these final results within a 2-day period from the date of their official release according to Chapter 1/93 of Law no. 9 of 2005 on the general elections.
The Final Results for the Electoral Lists
|
|
No. of Valid Votes |
% |
|
1 |
Change and Reform |
440,409 |
44.45% |
29 |
2 |
Fatah Movment |
410,554 |
41.43% |
28 |
3 |
Martyr Bu Ail Mustafa |
42,101 |
4.25% |
3 |
4 |
The Alternative |
28,973 |
2.92% |
2 |
5 |
Independent Palestine (Mustafa
al-Barghouthi and Independents) |
26,909 |
2.72% |
2 |
6 |
The third Way |
23,862 |
2.41% |
2 |
7 |
Freedom and Social Justice |
7,127 |
0.72% |
0** |
8 |
Freedom and Independence |
4,398 |
0.44% |
0** |
9 |
Martyr Abu al-Abbas |
3,011 |
0.30% |
0** |
10 |
The National Coalition for Justice
and Democracy (Wa'ad) |
1,806 |
0.18% |
0** |
11 |
The Palestinian Justice |
1,723 |
0.17% |
0** |
|
Total (95.05% |
990,873 |
100.00% |
66 |
|
Total No. of Invalid papers (2.86%) |
29,864 |
|
|
|
Total No. of blank papers (2.08%) |
21,687 |
|
|
|
Total No. of electors |
1,042,424 |
|
|
* Parliamentary seats were allocated according to the Sainte Lague metod
** Less than the tresshold percentage which is (19,817 votes) |
|