Palestine begins accepting lists for parliamentary elections — Asharq Al-Awsat
Palestine’s Central Election Commission began accepting applications from electoral lists on September 26 to participate in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council, scheduled for November 28. These are set to be the first parliamentary elections in 20 years. Documents may be submitted at the commission’s headquarters in Al-Bireh and its regional office in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.
Applications will be accepted for 12 days, including holidays, and will close on October 7 at 4:00 p.m. Candidates may run only as part of lists under a full proportional representation system; independent candidacies are not предусмотрены.
Talks between factions
As Asharq Al-Awsat reports, a Hamas delegation has held talks in Cairo in recent days with representatives of other Palestinian factions. The parties discussed the elections, overcoming the political split, and restoring the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization on democratic, inclusive and nationwide principles.
According to the outlet, participants in the meetings again discussed the possibility of creating a unified national list that could be headed by technocrats and academics acceptable to the international community. At the same time, a source from one of the factions said that the Hamas delegation had not proposed new approaches to advance the talks.
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Islamic Jihad decided to support such a list but not nominate its own candidates. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine have not yet decided whether to join the joint format. Both organizations called for postponing the elections in order to reach agreements on ending the internal split and restoring the PLO.
Requirements for electoral lists
Each list must include between 16 and 132 candidates. At least one woman must be among the first three candidates, and at least one woman must be included in every subsequent group of three. Registration requires the signatures of 3,000 voters, an electoral program, a symbol or logo, and confirmation of a bank payment of $20,000.
The Election Commission said that 2.97 million Palestinians are eligible to vote: 1.24 million in the Gaza Strip, 1.59 million in the West Bank, and 140,000 holders of Jerusalem identity cards in the city. People under 38 account for 53% of eligible voters, or 1.5 million voters. Women make up 49.9% of eligible voters, while men account for 50.1%.
