Palestinian municipal election, 2005

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Article "Palestinian Municipal Election, 2005" refers to the series of elections for members of local councils on Occupied Palestinian Territories organized between December 2004 and December 2005.

The elections were “approved” by President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat before his death on November 11, 2004 and administered by the Higher Committee for Local Elections (HCLE), a body established under the authority of the Ministry for Local Government, an institution of the Palestinian Authority (PA). These were the first local elections held in Palestinian areas in almost thirty years.

The first round of elections in Palestine was held in two parts. The first part was held on December 23, 2004 in 26 districts in the West Bank. The second part was held on January 27, 2005 in 10 districts in the Gaza Strip.

The second round of Palestinian elections for local councils was held on May 5, 2005 in the West Bank (76 districts) and Gaza (8 districts)and on May 19, 2005 in the West Bank district of Al-Ram.

The third round, (September 29, 2005) and the fourth round (December 15, 2005) were to elect local councils in districts 104 and 44 respectively, but in some districts elections were canceled.

The fifth round never happened because of the situation in Palestinian Territories after formation of Hamas led government. Approximately 25% of Palestinians live in districts that did not have elections.

In the first two rounds, council members were elected by Bloc voting election system, and the third and fourth by Party-list proportional representation

Turn out was quite high. Over all, the local election showed Hamas relative strength and preparedness to deal with the block voting election system. One other side, it showed weakness and disorganization of Fatah and inability to understand the consequences of the voting system.

Reports of the National Democratic Institute

Round One

Round Two

Round Three and Four