·         Only the majority system, meaning that winning candidates were those who obtained the highest number of valid votes regardless of the numbers..

·         The West Bank and the Gaza Strip were divided into 16 electoral districts and each district was allocated a number of seats in the PLC.          

·         1996 elections were held according to this law.

The electoral system according to Elections Law No. 9 of 2005 (cancelled in 2007):

·         Adopts the mixed electoral system.

·         Combines the simple majority system (districts) and the system of proportional representation (lists).

·         Divides the 132 seats of the PLC equally between the majority system and the system of proportional representation.

Full text of Elections Law No. 9 of 2005

The electoral system according to Presidential decree No. 1 of 2007 (NEW):

In September 2007 President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential “law in decree” pertaining to general elections.  This decree 1/2007 was published in the National Gazette on September 9^th 2007.

There are several main features of this “law in decree”:

·         Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections should be held according to a full proportional representation system (lists).

·       Accordingly, Palestine is to be treated as one electoral district with nomination according to nation-wide lists. The “law in decree” 1/2007 adds as a requirement for eligibility for candidacy for both members of the PLC (article 45/6) and the presidency (article 36/5) that the person should recognize and “uphold the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and the Declaration of Independence document in addition to the provisions of the Basic Law.”

·         The results will be counted and seats will be distributed for the winning lists according to Saint Lague method.

·        The law in decree has determined the threshold for a list to obtain seats, whereas the list which did not reach this threshold will not be included in counting method. The decree in law determined this percentage as 1.5 % of the valid votes for all lists.