Today, 9 January 2005, PCHR has
published a report evaluating the election campaign for the Palestinian
presidential election and related violations of the regulations prescribed by
the electoral law concerning this campaign. The report examines the commitment
of candidates and related parties with the regulations prescribed by the
electoral law during the official period of the election campaign, 25 December
2004 – 7 January 2005.
The report is part of the
effort to monitor all stages of Palestinian elections by PCHR in cooperation
with 26 Palestinian civil society groups throughout the Gaza Strip. It includes
a comprehensive evaluation of the election campaign during the official period
with regard to: regulations of the election campaign; intervention by the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and its security services into the
campaign; campaigning in the official media; security of the campaign; and the
effects of the political environment on the campaign.
In its report, PCHR has
depended on information collated by around 300 observers throughout the Gaza
Strip whom it trained and supervised in the context of its efforts to monitor
the Palestinian elections, in its capacity as an accredited local monitoring
organization.
In the end of the report, PCHR has made the following conclusions:
- Israeli
practices impacted on the election campaigns of all candidates, in
particular restrictions imposed by Israeli occupation forces on the freedom
of movement impacted on the ability of candidates to move freely among
electoral constituencies for campaigning.
- The
election campaign took place quietly, violence among Palestinians was
completely absent and it did not include any incident that could have
damaged the essence and fairness of the campaign.
- The
Central Election Commission should have specified places for the election
campaign in accordance with article 56 of Law 13 of 1995 Related to the
Elections, since assigning places for the election campaign could have
ensured much order with regard to organizing campaigning activities in
public places designed for assemblies, meetings and electoral marches.
- Even
through the candidates adhered to the official beginning and end of the
election campaign, PCHR observers recorded a number of violations by most
candidates regarding organizing campaigning activities before and after the
official period of the election campaign.
- PCHR
noticed some violations of the election campaign, which indicated that the
PNA was biased towards one of the candidates. PCHR believes that this
attitude is relevant to the chronic problem of the lack of clear separation
between the PNA and the Palestine National Liberation Movement (Fatah), and
the interrelation with the post of President of Palestine Liberation
Organization. This problem requires serious and essential treatment and the
elected president of the PNA should make it a priority in the efforts of
institutional reforms. Nevertheless, PCHR believes that such violations did
not impact on the essence of the election campaign.
- The
official media gave equal opportunities to the candidates in their
campaigns, although PCHR recorded a number of violations in this regard.
To View the
Full Report (120 KB)