A number of children whose ages didn’t exceed sixteen years successfully conducted a complete electoral process. This is what happened in the city of Ramallah which organized the first children municipal council's elections under the supervision of the CEC. Ramallah schools students elected a municipal council consisting of the seventh, eighth, and ninth graders.
Thirty two candidates competed over the thirteen council seats from among which a seat was designated for students with special needs.
The candidates' electoral programs promised the children of Ramallah a "better future and a cleaner city".
The CEC trainers provided the children with the necessary training on the processes of registration, nomination, organization of election campaigning activities, polling and counting and finally the announcement of results. "We followed up the children voters and candidates and taught them how to vote and organize elections campaigns. The children have successfully managed the whole electoral process". Said Suhair Abdeen, one of the CEC's trainers who oversaw the process.
Seventy students cast their votes under the supervision of a group of children observers before the counting of votes started in front of a crowd of students' parents, candidates and CEC officials headed by the CEC Chairman, Dr. Hanna Nasir, and the President of Ramallah Municipal Council, Ms. Janet Michael.
The CEC Chairman expressed his satisfaction with the whole process which he described as being" smoother than the Legislative and Presidential elections" and at the same time, encouraged the winners to adhere to their elections programs.
On her part, the President of Ramallah Municipal Council commented on the process by saying that "the idea of the project came after reviewing a number of European countries experiences, especially Norway, which she personally visited its children municipal council". Also, Dr, Nasir confirmed that this council is considered a good experience for the children and a training for the real electoral process" and expressed the CEC's willingness to participate in providing the necessary support for similar projects in the future.
It should be indicated that the CEC have previously conducted similar projects. Last year, the Commission organized mock elections to elect youth leaderships in twenty one summer camps where around a thousand students from across the West Bank districts participated in electoral process.