In its meeting yesterday evening, the CEC approved the results of the voter registry update conducted between 11-20 February 2013 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The total number of registrants until the said date has reached 1,861,211 voters, of which 1,090,575 in the west Bank and 770,636 in Gaza whereas; the percentage of registration in all the Palestinian territories has increased from 69.1% to 82.1% of the total eligible registrants who turned 17 years. The percentage of registrants now stands at 77.7% in the West Bank and 89.1% in Gaza. 52% are males and 48% are females. The registration percentages where driven based on the estimates of the Palestinian Central Bureau of statistics. The above data do not include Jerusalem voters who are automatically registered due to the special conditions of the occupied city.
Dr. Hanna Nasir, CEC Chairman announced that the registration and data management process is now complete as the CEC now have an updated and accurate voters list ready for any electoral event.
Following the recent update process, the CEC entered data of 466,376 registration applications, 101,026 in the West Bank and 365,350 in Gaza given the fact that the last registry update in Gaza was on April 2007 while it was conducted on August 2012 in the West Bank.
With the end of application processing, 310,355 voters were added to the voters list; 68,476 in the West Bank and 241,879 in Gaza. The difference in numbers is due to multiple registration cases due to data correction, change in residency or to confirm previous registration. Such cases where cancelled and the CEC approved the last registration by the voter. Also, 2,860 deaths in the West Bank and 12,116 in Gaza were also deleted from the voters list.
Registered voters are now able to check their registration information through the search engine at CEC’s website www.elections.ps. The website will also provide additional detailed statistics of registrants according to electoral districts.
It should be indicated that according to CEC’s timeline, data entry was expected to be completed by the end of last month, however due to Israeli measures which prevented the transfer of registration booklets from Gaza to West Bank; the process was further extended for ten days. The CEC would like to draw attention that the registration update process is conducted on regular basis and the CEC is obliged by law to conduct registry update prior to elections.
The CEC would like to seize this opportunity to thank all official bodies, political parties, Civil Society organizations and the media for their support to the work of the CEC and would like to highly commend our people’s positive interaction with registration which only reflects their aspiration for democratic participation.
Voters Register After the the Registry Update of 10-20 February 2013