GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hisham Kahil, the executive director of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC), revealed during a televised interview with the local Wattan News Agency on July 23 that the local elections scheduled for Oct. 8 will cost $8 million — $5.5 million in the West Bank and $2.5 million in the Gaza Strip — an amount that the government has pledged to provide from the state budget.

CEC spokesman Fareed Taamallah told Al-Monitor, “The $8 million will cover the entire cost of the electoral process, including publications, awareness campaigns, training, staff, electoral materials, stationery and others.”

He explained how the cost is calculated, “We have previous experience in this regard. We rely on the presidential elections in 2005 and the legislative elections in 2006 to determine the number of polling stations and their staffing needs as well as requirements, such as ballot boxes, stationery, transportation fees and others, in order to determine the total cost.”

He said, “Elections create temporary jobs for thousands of citizens, as the commission employs a large number of people on the polling day. These workers are given a training course two days before the election day. … They are entrusted with receiving the voters inside the polling stations, guiding and giving them directions on the electoral process and supervising the ballot boxes and the voting process.”