Palestinian Elections Commission Begins Receiving Candidacy Applications for Lists in Legislative Elections

Ramallah, Sept 26 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) announced on Saturday morning that it had opened the window for accepting nomination applications for the upcoming legislative elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, scheduled for November 28.

In a press statement, the commission said it began receiving nomination applications at its headquarters in al-Bireh and its office in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, with the process set to continue for 12 days until October 7.

It noted that approximately three million Palestinians are eligible to vote in the elections, distributed as follows: 1.24 million in the Gaza Strip, 1.59 million in the West Bank, and 140,000 Jerusalem ID holders in Jerusalem.

The commission clarified that these figures represent citizens who meet the legal voting criteria, specifically those who will have reached the age of 18 by election day, with youth forming a major block of voters.

Commission data showed that women constitute 49.9 percent of the total electorate, compared to 50.1 percent for men, reflecting a close balance in voting weight.

Individual candidacy applications are not accepted. A party list must include no fewer than 16 candidates and no more than 132, while adhering to the legal minimum quota for women’s representation.

The commission called on the United Nations and the international community to continue supporting the Palestinian elections and to pressure the occupation authorities to facilitate the process, enabling elections to be held across all Palestinian territories, and to make efforts to remove any obstacles hindering their implementation.

Following a meeting in Ramallah on the eve of Friday, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reaffirmed its commitment to holding legislative elections in accordance with the law in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement after the meeting, it stressed that citizen participation in all these areas and the simultaneous holding of elections there are two fundamental conditions for the unity of the electoral process.

The committee called on the UN and the international community to work to halt Israeli violations and measures that obstruct the elections, and to provide international oversight covering all stages of the electoral process in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, ensuring transparency, integrity, and respect for the results.

It is worth noting that the last Palestinian legislative elections were held in 2006, one year after President Mahmoud Abbas won the presidential elections. In 2018, Abbas issued a decree dissolving the Legislative Council and canceled the elections scheduled for 2021, citing the occupation’s prevention of holding them in Jerusalem. The first Palestinian elections were held in 1996. (End) N.Q./T.M.A.