Al Mezan organizes a monitoring campaign on the Municipal Elections in Gaza
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights organized a monitoring campaign on the recent Palestinian local elections in ten municipalities in the Gaza Strip. The elections took place on Thursday, 27 January 2005, under the supervision of the Higher Local Election Commission and in accordance with law #5/1996. The Commission announced the final results on Friday, 28 January 2005. The Center commends the Palestinian People for the success of this second phase of the local elections, which proceeded without problems. No serious breaches of the law or of internationally accepted standards for fair and democratic elections were noted. The Election Commission carried out its functions efficiently and responsibly, and welcomed Mezan’s efforts and recommendations during the election day. Al Mezan reaffirms its commitment to human rights, democracy and neutrality in its role in monitoring elections. It nevertheless wishes to call attention to certain mitigating factors:
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights has included these notes because of its concern for the promotion of democracy and its support of establishing fair democratic electoral experiences in Palestine. The Center calls for full compliance with the law, even if such breaches did not affect the overall results. The Center hopes that the Occupied Palestinian Territories will have fair and democratic legislative and local elections during 2005, and that the bodies organizing elections will cease any violations that appeared in this local election. http://www.miftah.org |