1996 Palestinian general election

The Palestinian general elections of 1996 were the first elections for the President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and for members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislative arm of the PNA. They took place in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem on 20 January 1996. Following the elections, a government was formed, headed by the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat.

1996 Palestinian general election

20 January 1996 (1996-01-20)
Presidential election
 
Candidate Yasser Arafat Samiha Khalil
Party Fatah DFLP
Popular vote 643,079 72,887
Percentage 89.8% 10.2%

President before election

Yasser Arafat
Fatah

President-elect

Yasser Arafat
Fatah

Parliamentary election


All 88 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council
45 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader % Seats
Fatah Yasser Arafat 30.90 50
NDC 2.25 1
FIDA Yasser Abed Rabbo 2.04 1
LIB 1.64 1
Independents 57.51 35
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Background

The 1996 elections took place in a moment of optimism in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, and many Palestinians believed that the government they were electing would be the first of an independent Palestinian state. However, in the ensuing months and years, Israelis and Palestinians failed to resolve their differences and come to a final status agreement, and an upswing in violence meant that the Israeli–Palestinian conflict would continue. As a result of this instability, new presidential and legislative elections were not held until nearly a decade later.

There were no real 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 Yassir 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.

Conduct

Despite considerable Israeli obstruction,[1] the PCBS was able to arrange the necessary voter registration. Obstructions included long delays in providing maps and necessary information, insistence on Hebrew-only documents; "... They did all they could to hinder things in Jerusalem .."; 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 was female politician Samiha Khalil largely considered a prop.[2] Arafat won the election with 88.2 percent of the vote to Khalil's 11.5 percent. [3]

CandidatePartyVotes%
Yasser ArafatFatah643,07989.82
Samiha KhalilDemocratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine72,88710.18
Total715,966100.00
Valid votes715,96697.17
Invalid/blank votes20,8592.83
Total votes736,825100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,028,28071.66
Source: 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. Some seats were set aside for the Christian and Samaritan communities. 51 seats were allocated to the West Bank, 37 to the Gaza Strip. Of the 25 female candidates, five won seats; Hanan Ashrawi, Dalal Salameh, Jamila Saidam, Rawya Shawa and Intissar al-Wazir.

PartyVotes%Seats
Fatah1,085,59330.9050
Palestinian People's Party102,8302.930
National Democratic Coalition79,0582.251
Palestinian Democratic Union71,6722.041
Liberty & Independence Bloc57,5161.641
Palestinian Popular Struggle Front26,0340.740
Arab Liberation Front22,8100.650
Islamic Struggle Movement12,2850.350
Islamic Jihad Movement8,3910.240
National Democratic Movement6,8310.190
Future Bloc6,5840.190
Palestinian Liberation Front3,9190.110
National Movement for Change2,6580.080
Palestinian National Coalition2,6350.080
Ba'ath Party2,2300.060
Progressive National Bloc1,7070.050
Independents2,020,21357.5135
Total3,512,966100.0088
Registered voters/turnout1,028,280
Source: 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.[4] 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.[5] 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).

References

  1. Nigel Parsons (2005), The Politics of the Palestinian Authority, pp.200-201
  2. Nordlinger, Jay (2012-03-20). Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World. ISBN 9781594035999.
  3. Central Elections Commission (CEC), Results of first General election, 1996. Here available Archived 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  4. UN General Assembly, Resolution 58/292. Status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem Archived 2012-08-06 at the Wayback Machine. 17 mei 2004 (doc.nr. A/RES/58/292).
  5. 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
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