1996 Palestinian general election
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All 88 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council 45 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. |
Politics of Palestine |
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Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italics |
Member state of the Arab League |
Palestine portal |
General elections were held for the first time in the
Background
There were no real strong conventional political parties in place before the election. The results were dominated by
Opinion polls
Presidential
Date | Pollster | Sample size |
Arafat Fatah |
Ahmed Yassin Hamas |
George Habash PFLP |
Haidar Abdel-Shafi | Faisal Husseni | Hanan Ashrawi | Nabil Shaath Fatah |
Mahmoud al-Zahar Hamas |
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 | Sample size |
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,
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.[2] Arafat won the election with 88.2 percent of the vote to Khalil's 11.5 percent. [3]
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yasser Arafat | Fatah | 643,079 | 89.82 | |
Samiha Khalil | Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine | 72,887 | 10.18 | |
Total | 715,966 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 715,966 | 97.17 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 20,859 | 2.83 | ||
Total votes | 736,825 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,028,280 | 71.66 | ||
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. 51 seats were allocated to the West Bank and 37 to the Gaza Strip. Some seats were set aside for the
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Islamic Jihad Movement | 8,391 | 0.24 | 0 | |
National Democratic Movement | 6,831 | 0.19 | 0 | |
Future Bloc | 6,584 | 0.19 | 0 | |
Palestinian Liberation Front | 3,919 | 0.11 | 0 | |
National Movement for Change | 2,658 | 0.08 | 0 | |
Palestinian National Coalition | 2,635 | 0.08 | 0 | |
Ba'ath Party | 2,230 | 0.06 | 0 | |
Progressive National Bloc | 1,707 | 0.05 | 0 | |
Independents | 2,020,213 | 57.51 | 35 | |
Total | 3,512,966 | 100.00 | 88 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,028,280 | – | ||
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).
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.[6][7]: 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.[7]: 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.[7]
Aftermath
The 1996 elections took place in a moment of optimism in the
References
- ^ Nigel Parsons (2005), The Politics of the Palestinian Authority, pp.200-201
- ISBN 9781594035999.
- ^ Central Elections Commission (CEC), Results of first General election, 1996. Here available Archived 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 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).
- ^ 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
- ^ "Public Opinion Poll #8: Palestinian Elections, Participation of Women, and Other Related Issues, April 1994". pcpsr.org. Center for Palestine Research and Studies. April 1994. Archived from the original on 25 December 2001. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9780815631118.