Palestinian local elections on front burner
The postponed local Palestinian elections might be scheduled in 2017 amid talks about possibly holding them in phases starting next May.
It looks like the Palestinian municipal elections that were postponed in September might take place in 2017.
Hisham Kuhail, the executive director of the Central Elections Commission, was quoted in the local al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper Jan. 5 as saying the local elections will take place in the first half of 2017.
Kuhail’s statement came two days after Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah’s government announced that election complaints will now be resolved in a single higher court based in Ramallah, rather than local courts. According to the report on the decisions of the Jan. 3 Cabinet session published on the Palestinian Prime Ministry website, “The newly established court will resolve all election-related violations and appeals for disqualification of candidates.”
President Mahmoud Abbas will need to sign the law before it takes effect. It is unclear when Abbas will sign the law.
