Ramallah, 18 January 2010 - The Central Elections Commission (CEC) and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOE&HE) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement a project to train potential polling and registration staff in the West Bank electoral districts, including Jerusalem. The MoU was signed by the CEO of the Commission, Mr. Hisham Kuhail, and the General Director of Training and Supervision of the Ministry, Mr. Tharwat Zeid.
The aim of the Norwegian-funded project, explained Mr. Kuhail, is to increase the CEC’s preparedness for any upcoming elections by creating a pool of trained polling and registration staff who will be ready to work immediately when elections are called for.
On his part, Mr. Zeid stated that “Signing the MoU comes within the context of continuous cooperation between the CEC and the Ministry.” He expressed the Ministry’s readiness to cooperate with the CEC on similar projects in the future.
The signing of the MoU marks the second milestone in the cooperation between the CEC and the MOE& HE. Last year, the CEC implemented a similar project targeting 300 potential polling staff from among the MOE&HE teachers. The project was also generously funded by the government of Norway. This year, the CEC intends to train 400 potential polling supervisors, 150 of whom will be selected from among the MOE&HE staff and 250 of whom will be selected from those who submitted employment applications to the CEC district offices. The training process is scheduled to begin in mid-February and finish in early April 2010.
The CEC would like to take this opportunity to thank the Government of Norway for its generous support to the Commission and the Ministry for its continued cooperation with the CEC.