The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Legal Profession and Judiciary “Musawa” held a meeting on Tuesday in Ramallah and Gaza entitled “Elections are an inherent legal and constitutional right.”
The policy affairs official at the Musawa Center, lawyer Ibrahim Al-Barghouthi, told Mada News that the meeting comes in the context of civil society institutions’ pressure on decision-makers to proceed with holding local elections and enabling Palestinian citizens to choose their representatives in the local authorities.
The meeting also aims to explore the opinions of Palestinian citizens and explain their reactions to the government’s “negative and silent” position towards the letter addressed to it from Palestinian civil society institutions demanding that a date be set for holding the elections, and what are the main obstacles that prevent the holding of these elections for local bodies and other elections.” Legislative, presidential and National Council,” and what is available in dealing with these challenges and the connection of all of this to choosing the appropriate timing for holding elections and this is also connected to the comprehensive national endeavors to achieve societal reconciliation based on implementing the standards of transitional justice and within its stages include agreed-upon elections whose results are respected and which provide for peaceful deliberation. My community participates in public policy life in Palestine.
Regarding the message sent by civil society organizations to the Council of Ministers regarding holding local body elections as well as the completion of the third phase of elections “in the West Bank and Gaza,” Lawyer Barghouti confirmed that the civil society message called on the Council of Ministers to announce a specific date for holding these elections so that the Central Elections Commission could take over. Taking the necessary measures to ensure the holding of transparent and fair elections. Pointing out at the same time that this letter was sent to the Council of Ministers three weeks ago, saying: Unfortunately, until now the government has been inactive. The government did not respond to this letter, did not indicate that it had received a message from civil society, and did not respond to the content of the message, and therefore We are still waiting and even demanding that the government announce in a bold, clear and professional manner what its position on the message is. Is it ready to announce the date of the elections or does it not want to hold the elections to justify to us what are the reasons behind that, whether the local councils in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip?
In turn, the Executive Director of the Central Elections Commission, Hisham Kahil, confirmed to Mada News that the committee is following the issue of holding the local body elections “the third phase in the West Bank and Gaza” with positivity and interest to complete the final episode of the local body elections, adding: “We announced that we are ready to hold these elections, and that we are awaiting a decision.” It is issued by the Council of Ministers, which has jurisdiction over this matter. Kahil added that all logistical matters in the Gaza Strip must be examined, saying: “We are talking about a geographical dimension related to the Israeli occupation in terms of movement” back and forth, “and also other logistical materials related to the printing of ballot papers.” But we confirm that we are capable and ready to hold these elections in the Gaza Strip
Source: Maan News Agency