In a press conference held by the CEC, Dr. Hanna Nasir, the CEC Chairman announced the commencement of the early voting for security forces in the sixteen electoral districts. The early voting will last until Monday, the 23rd January.
Dr. Nasir stated that the CEC is opening 17 polling centers which include 60 polling stations in all 16 electoral districts. Each district contains one polling station except the Gaza district which includes two centers.
Security personnel will vote following the same procedures as those for official polling day. The counting of their votes, however, will take place on official polling day scheduled for 25th of January, 2006.
58,705 police officers are currently registered in the early voting list and will cast their votes during the next three days to enable them to maintain security on the official polling day.
The CEC Chairman described election arrangements adopted by the CEC for Jerusalem voters in the upcoming elections. The CEC will open 3 centers to distribute voting cards to Jerusalem voters holding the blue ID cards to enable them to exercise their voting right inside the city of Jerusalem through Israeli post offices. Jerusalem voters, who have not obtained their voting cards from the three centers, can still vote in the 14 centers which the CEC will operate in the suburbs of Jerusalem.