1996 Palestinian general election

none yes November 2023 Palestine 20 January 1996 yes Presidential election presidential 2005 Palestinian presidential election 2005 71.66% Leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, 1996 Dan Hadani Archive.jpg Yasser Arafat Fatah 643,079 89.82% 3x4.svg Samiha Khalil 72,887 Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine 10.18% 1996 Palestinian presidential election results by Governorate.svg Results by governorate:Arafat: #f4b838 75–80% #dba633 80-85% #c2922c 85–90% #a87f27 90–95%  #8f6c21 95–100% President Yasser Arafat Fatah President-elect Yasser Arafat Fatah yes Parliamentary election 2006 All 88 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council 45 yes Yasser Arafat Fatah 30.90 50 NDC 2.25 1 Yasser Abed Rabbo FIDA 2.04 #008B4C 1 LIB 1.64 1 – Independents 57.51 35 1996 Palestinian parliamenary election results.svg Results by governorate:Fatah: #fff0ad 10-20% #ffe494 20-30% #ffda7a 30-40% #ffd061ff 40-50%  #f4b838 60-70% General elections were held for the first time in the Palestinian territories on 20 January 1996 to elect the President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislative arm of the PNA. They took place in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. A new government was formed following the elections, headed by President Yasser Arafat. Background There were no strong conventional political parties in place before the election. The results were dominated by Fatah, the strongest movement within the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was headed by Yasser Arafat. The Islamist Hamas, Fatah's main rival, refused to participate in the election; they felt that doing so would lend legitimacy to the PNA, which was created out of what they called unacceptable negotiations and compromises with Israel. Independent international observers reported the elections to have been free and fair; however, boycotts by Hamas and opposition movements limited voter choices. Opinion polls Presidential Date Pollster Samplesize ArafatFatah Ahmed YassinHamas George HabashPFLP Haidar Abdel-Shafi Faisal Husseni Hanan Ashrawi Nabil ShaathFatah Mahmoud al-ZaharHamas Others No opinion Against all 11 - 21 January 1996 JMCC 1,199 41% 3.2% 0.9% 7.2% 1.3% 3% 1% 1% 13.2% 16.8% 11.4% 6 - 7 October 1995 JMCC 1,318 36.8% 5.5% 3.4% 4.6% 2.1% 2.4% 0.9% 0.2% 10.3% 17.7% 16.1% Legislative Date Pollster Samplesize Fatah Hamas PFLP Islamic Jihad Movement PPP FIDA DFLP PLO Other Islamic parties Others No opinion Against all 11 - 21 January 1996 JMCC 1,199 38.9% 12.3% 2.3% 1.4% 1.8% 0.9% 0.6% - 1.9% 1% 21.8% 17.1% 6 - 7 October 1995 JMCC 1,318 41.3% 10.7% 3.6% 2.4% 1% 0.5% 0.5% 0.2% 0.9% - 17.8% 20.9% Conduct Despite considerable Israeli obstruction,Nigel Parsons (2005), The Politics of the Palestinian Authority, pp.200-201 the PCBS was able to arrange the necessary voter registration. Obstructions included long delays in providing maps and necessary information, and insistence on Hebrew-only documents; in Gaza, six tons of voter registration cards were held up at the Erez crossing, and eventually they had to be "passed by hand over the concrete barriers that surround the checkpoint". Results President The president was elected by a simple popular vote. The results of the election were considered a foregone conclusion by most observers, due to Arafat's longtime dominance of the Palestinian political scene (he had been PNA president since its creation and head of the PLO for decades before that) and the high regard he was held in by most Palestinians. His only opponent, female politician Samiha Khalil, was largely considered a prop.https://books.google.com/books?id=NDYnBcMhYT4C&q=arafat+was+elected+the+same+way+stalin+was&pg=PA349 Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World 9781594035999 Nordlinger Jay 2012-03-20 Arafat won the election with 88.2 percent of the vote to Khalil's 11.5 percent. Central Elections Commission (CEC), Results of first General election, 1996. Here available https://web.archive.org/web/20180202172833/http://www.elections.ps/tabid/813/language/en-US/Default.aspx 2018-02-02 Yasser Arafat Fatah 643079 Samiha Khalil Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine 72887 20859 1028280 JMCC Legislative Council The legislative election saw 88 PLC members elected from multi-member constituencies, with the number of representatives from each constituency determined by population. 51 seats were allocated to the West Bank and 37 to the Gaza Strip. Some seats were set aside for the Christian and Samaritan communities. Of the 25 female candidates, five won seats; Hanan Ashrawi, Dalal Salameh, Jamila Saidam, Rawya Shawa and Intissar al-Wazir. File:PalestinianLegislativeCouncil 1996.svg Fatah 1085593 50 Palestinian People's Party 102830 0 National Democratic Coalition 79058 1 Palestinian Democratic Union 71672 1 #008B4C Liberty & Independence Bloc 57516 1 Palestinian Popular Struggle Front 26034 0 #CB0000 Arab Liberation Front 22810 0 #008000 Islamic Struggle Movement 12285 0 Islamic Jihad Movement 8391 0 black National Democratic Movement 6831 0 Future Bloc 6584 0 Palestinian Liberation Front 3919 0 #D50407 National Movement for Change 2658 0 Palestinian National Coalition 2635 0 Ba'ath Party 2230 0 Progressive National Bloc 1707 0 Independents 2020213 35 1028280 JMCC Analysis Elections in the OPT are held to exercise the Palestinian right to self-determination in connection with their right to establish their own state, but are held within the context of the Israeli occupation.UN General Assembly, Resolution 58/292. Status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem https://web.archive.org/web/20120806133025/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A2C2938216B39DE485256EA70070C849 2012-08-06 . 17 mei 2004 (doc.nr. A/RES/58/292). They are held in the framework of the Oslo Accords, meaning that the power of the PNA was (and is) limited to matters such as culture, education, ID cards and the distribution of the land and water. A controversial claim has been made, that changes of the political reality, including elections and the formation of new political entities under occupation are, like the Oslo Accords themselves, contrary to the Geneva Conventions and thus illegal. This argument is generally not accepted, as the Accords were meant as a temporary stepping stone to Palestinian self-determination.International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949 – Commentary ARTICLE 47. 2005 Some view elections in the Palestinian Territories as little more than symbolic, given the limited power they grant. Political freedom is limited in the Palestinian Territories; checkpoints and separation walls are already fit to hinder all social activities. The parliament cannot function, merely because free travel is not possible, especially between Gaza and West Bank. In addition to this, hostilities between Fatah and Hamas hinder the correct functioning of the parliament. Moreover, PNA and parliament do not represent the Palestinian diaspora (to which the PLO is entitled). Gender A poll conducted on 19 April 1994 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research with 2006 respondents found the majority of Palestinians (79%) supported the right of women to vote (86% of women and 76% of men). 63% (71% of women and 59% of men) showed a willingness to vote for a female candidate who was competent, while 21% (24% of men and 16% of women) indicated they would not vote for a woman because "a man is probably more qualified" and 11% (13% of men and 7% of women) said they did not support women running for elections.Public Opinion Poll #8: Palestinian Elections, Participation of Women, and Other Related Issues, April 1994 http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/cprspolls/94/poll8.html pcpsr.org Center for Palestine Research and Studies 19 November 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20011225115352/http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/cprspolls/94/poll8.html 25 December 2001 April 1994Moghadam_2007_Book 31 Prior to the elections there were discussions of establishing a 30 percent electoral quota to ensure female representation, similar to the quota for Christians, though no quota was put in place. According to one poll 50% of the Palestinian public favored a quota for women.Moghadam_2007_Book 32 Of the 550 candidates, 28 (5%) were women. Five women were elected to the council (6% of 88 seats), two from the West Bank and three from Gaza. These were Hanan Ashrawi (Jerusalem, independent), Dalal Salameh (Nablus, Fatah), journalist Rawya Shawa (Gaza, independent), Jamila Saidam (Khan Younis, Fatah), and Intissar al-Wazir. A sixth candidate, Zahira Kamal (Jerusalem, Fida), lost by 104 votes out of 32,316 cast in the Jerusalem constituency.Valentine Moghadam From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women's Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia 2007 Syracuse University Press 9780815631118 31-35 https://books.google.com/books?id=iKsSEulnPTsC&pg=PA32 en Aftermath The 1996 elections took place in a moment of optimism in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process; many Palestinians believed that the government they were electing would be the first of an independent Palestinian state. In the ensuing months and years however, Israelis and Palestinians failed to resolve their differences and come to a final status agreement; an upswing in violence meant that the Israeli–Palestinian conflict would continue. As a result of this instability, new elections were not held until nearly a decade later. References External links Palestinian Central Elections Commission General election Palestine Category:Elections in the Palestinian National Authority Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results