RAMALLAH, West Bank — Talk about the intention of the government in Ramallah to hold local council elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has resurfaced in the Palestinian street, after a draft decree law to establish an elections court to examine all challenges and legal issues relating to the local council elections was approved Jan. 3. Indeed, the draft decree law was referred to President Mahmoud Abbas to be duly promulgated and published in the official gazette.
The government's move is an attempt to overcome the dispute that led to the postponement of the local council elections that were scheduled to take place on Oct. 8, 2016. Several lawyers had submitted appeals before the High Court of Justice in Ramallah challenging the legitimacy of the Gaza courts and judiciary tasked with evaluating local elections, following a decision issued by the Court of First Instance in the Gaza Strip disqualifying a number of Fatah electoral lists. The High Court decided to hold the elections in the West Bank and cancel them in Gaza, but the government, which sought to hold elections both in Gaza and the West Bank, refused to do so on Oct. 4 and postponed the local council elections for four months.
The local council elections law No. 10 of 2005 stipulates that “the Court of First Instance in each region shall be competent to examine challenges against the electoral lists.” The decree law approved Jan. 3 will amend this paragraph to allow the elections court established in accordance with the general election law No. 1 of 2007 (governing presidential and legislative elections) to examine electoral cases and challenges, provided these courts are formed before holding general elections and dissolved after their completion.
Jihad Mashaqi, the head of the Appointments and Election General Directorate at the Ministry of Local Government, told Al-Monitor, “The amendment of the local elections law aims to make the court of presidential and legislative elections the sole judicial authority competent to examine and settle matters related to the local council elections. Therefore, the Courts of First Instance would have no jurisdiction in this regard.”
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