The Central Elections Commission (CEC) in cooperation with the EU, held today a workshop on the 2017 local elections in Ramallah.
The workshop was held in the presence of representatives from the President’s office, Prime Ministers’ office, governmental organizations, political parties, CSOs, heads of municipality councils and the media.
In his opening speech, CEC Chairman, Dr. Hanna Nasir, stated that the recent 2017 local elections was held in accordance with international standards of integrity and transparency and in the presence of local and international elections observers whose reports commended the integrity of elections. Dr. Nasir also thanked the European Union for its long standing partnership with the CEC since its establishment, and stressed the importance of the workshop which reflects on the findings and recommendations of the European elections expert mission reports, highlighting lessons learned and recommendations to upgrade performance in any future elections.
On his part, EU representative Mr. Ralph Tarraf stated that the ‘’EU has been supporting the work of CEC of organizing elections and promoting awareness for democratic principles and values in Palestine for several years. It has been a privilege to be a partner with the CEC in this endeavour”. He also added that" the EU is committed to fostering the values and principles of democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights, including civil and political rights. Holding credible, inclusive and transparent elections is a vital element in building a future Palestinian State".
Minister of Local Government, Dr. Hussein Al-Araj, spoke about the value of local elections as a democratic choice through which representatives of local councils are elected periodically.
The workshop included presentations by the Commission’s CEO, Mr. Hisham Kuhail, who provided some facts and figures on elections results. On her part, Ms. Delphine Blanchette, the head of the European elections expert mission, gave an overview of the findings of the mission and technical observations and recommendations on the development of the electoral process.
On the other hand, Mr. Aref Jaffal, Director of Al- Marsad, presented the findings of a study prepared by Al-Marsad on local elections and voter behavior. Mr. Omar Rahal, Director of Shams, gave a presentation on key observations and recommendations of civil society organizations that monitored the recent local elections.
Participants also took part in the discussion session which followed the presentations and made interventions tackling all aspects of the electoral process and reflections on the presentations and recommendations for future elections.
