Ramallah, 4th July 2012- Following the CEC’s latest press release in response to Hamas’ letter postponing the voter registry update in Gaza, the CEC contacted a number of governmental bodies in the Strip to ensure that the Hamas letter has an official basis. The CEC was verbally informed that Hamas’ stance was based on a decision by the government. In light of this, the CEC regrettably announces the suspension of voter registration operations in Gaza until further notice. The CEC would also like to clarify some of the points raised by Hamas as reasons for the registration postponement, particularly:
With regards to Hamas’ statement indicating that “existing violations in the West Bank” have affected the observation of the registration process, which was carried earlier in the West Bank, the CEC confirms that the latest registration drive in the West Bank was conducted in March 2011. Three similar exercises were carried out in the past few years, during which citizens were able to register without facing any security issues and no objections to the registration results were recorded. Also, the high registration percentage indicates the high level of participation by all sectors of the Palestinian society. The so-called “violations” were not previously raised by any official body in the Strip upon obtaining Hamas’ approval to conduct voter registration on May 25th.
Moreover, the registration process in itself, as a technical and regular activity, does not require the presence of observers according to law. The CEC allowed for the accreditation of observers to give additional transparency to the process.
In another context, Hamas’ letter mentions that “it was agreed that electoral procedures for National Council, Presidential and Legislative elections should be carried out simultaneously, however, registration was only open for Palestinian Authority elections, which is against the agreement. Therefore, necessary measures should be taken to ensure registration is open for all citizens in Palestine and the Diaspora to hold National, Presidential and Legislative elections at once, as agreed.
The CEC clarifies that no registration exercises have been conducted in Gaza since 2007. Since then, the CEC has called for a registry update in the Strip on many occasions so that the whole country is ready for elections once a political decision is made.
With regards to National Council elections, the CEC has no legal authorization to organize such elections. Besides, the whole issue was not previously mentioned upon obtaining permission to update the registry in the Strip.
Hamas’ letter also states that “a lot of Palestinians residing in the West Bank and Gaza who are eligible registrants do not hold Identification cards, and this issue should have been dealt with prior to the registration process.
The CEC is aware of the importance of this issue and has previously dealt with it in past registration exercises conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The CEC also made it clear to all concerned bodies and factions in the Strip that all Gazans will be registered by the necessary documents proving their Palestinian nationality, as per election laws.
Hamas has also criticized the CEC’s procedures concerning the recruitment of staff and the accreditation of observers.
In this respect, the CEC stresses that ALL registration staff who were selected, approximately 512 people, are in fact teachers nominated by the Ministry of Higher Education in Gaza, and ALL registration centers are located inside the premises of the Ministry or UNRWA schools. The CEC previously signed an agreement with the Ministry on this regard.
As for staff who were temporarily recruited as registration supervisors, they were selected following an opening announcement in local newspapers according to the CEC’s recruitment guidelines. The CEC received more than 1500 applications, of whom only 61 were eligible candidates who met the job description criteria and had the necessary expertise and competence.
It should be indicated that the issue of staff recruitment was raised by Hamas in its first meeting with the CEC on May 28th, 2012. At that point, Hamas showed respect and understanding of the CEC’s procedures, which are characterized by full transparency.
On the issue of observation during the registration process, the CEC announced the accreditation of observers according to certain eligibility criteria. On this basis, several observation organizations that failed to meet the criteria were rejected. For example, the CEC refused the application of a certain agricultural committee; however, due to persistent pressure by political parties and factions, accreditation was open to all organizations regardless of their objectives. Although this has placed an extra burden on the CEC’s staff to issue observation cards for a large number of observers, the CEC has done so to avoid any criticism to its procedures.
The CEC believes that the issues raised by Hamas should not lead to the suspension of registration, especially after the positive atmosphere which resulted from the CEC’s meeting with Mr. Haniyeh, the Minister of Higher Education and the Minister of Interior, which gave hope to Palestinians of reconciliation drawing near.
The CEC would like to seize this opportunity to stress that it is not a political commission, but rather an independent institution agreed upon by all political parties and factions. Therefore, it deeply regrets that its humble efforts in updating the voter registry in Gaza, in cooperation with CSOs and various factions, were suspended after four weeks of continued dedicated work. At the same time, it maintains hope for Hamas to reconsider its decision to bring back the spirit of optimism which has prevailed in the Strip since the beginning of the registration process and would have laid the foundations of democracy and national unity sought by all Palestinians.