2005 Palestinian presidential election
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Politics of Palestine |
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Officeholders whose status is disputed are shown in italics |
Member state of the Arab League |
Palestine portal |
Presidential elections were held in the
Seven candidates contested the election. Abbas won over 67% of the votes cast, independent candidate
No presidential elections have taken place since 2005. Abbas has continued in office since the expiration of the four-year term on 9 January 2009,
Candidates
On 25 November 2004, Fatah's Revolutionary Council endorsed Mahmoud Abbas as its preferred candidate for the presidential election, scheduled for 9 January 2005, despite his relative lack of popular appeal. Abbas was a former PA Prime Minister.
- Abbas 44% / Marwan Barghouti 46% (±3%) (Development Studies Program, Bir Zeit University)
- Abbas 40% / Marwan Barghouti 38% (±3%) (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research)
- Abbas 40% / Marwan Barghouti 22% (±3%) (Palestinian Center for Public Opinion).
With Marwan Barghouti's withdrawal, Abbas was seen as the clear favourite, with Marwan Barghouti‘s cousin Mustafa Barghouti in second place.
Final list of candidates
- Palestine Liberation Organisation. Former Prime Minister and current chairman of the PLO, endorsed by the FatahRevolutionary Council on November 25, 2004.
- Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar - independent.
- Sayyid Barakah - independent.
- Mustafa Barghouti - independent. A democracy activist and head of the Palestinian National Initiative. His candidacy was supported by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Not to be confused with his cousin Marwan Barghouti.
- Taysir Khalid - Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
- Bassam al-Salhi - Palestinian People's Party
- Abdel Karim Shubeir - independent
Three other candidates who registered by the end of the registration period subsequently withdrew: they were Marwan Barghouti, Hassan Khreisheh and Abd al-Sattar Qasim.
Registration
Preparation of voting register
The CEC had made enormous efforts to register all eligible Palestinian voters, but almost a third of eligible voters did not register or were unable to register. Problems were due to a not up to date
The day before the election the total number of registered voters was 1,092,407 according to a CEC press release.[6] On 23 November, the CEC said: "The number of registrants on the voters’ list reached 1,111,868, or 67 percent of the estimated number of eligible voters, during the registration process conducted between September 4 and October 13, 2004. Of these names, 19,000 were removed from the voters’ list because the accompanying data was incomplete or the names were repeated on the list. With this adjustment, the number of registered voters decreased to 1,092,856." ("46% of Registered Voters are Youths, 46% are Women.")[7]
Palestinian diaspora
According to UNRWA, there were 2.6 million Palestinians registered as refugees with the agency eligible to receive services who lived outside Palestine, in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. An unknown additional number sometimes estimated to be up to one million live in the diaspora in Europe, North and South America and in other Arab countries.
Conduct
The election was conducted by the Palestinian
The CEC experienced some technical problems, including those due to the incomplete electoral register. Persons not listed on the electoral register were permitted to vote on presentation of a valid identity card. In view of the registration problems, in an effort to boost low turnout, in the final hours of polling day the CEC was controversially instructed to extend voting by two hours beyond the appointed closing time to allow unregistered voters to cast ballots using only their identity cards. The decision raised fears of multiple voting.[5]
The election was observed by a number of international observers, including former
.Obstruction by Israel
The election campaign faced problems due to the widespread blockade of the Palestinian territories by the
Voter registration was hampered by closure of registration centers due to curfews, roadblocks and road closures. Registration staff and supervisors were detained. Israeli troops, used gas grenades and noise in the vicinity. A number of centers were raided.[9]
Particularly East Jerusalem was affected. Checking of the names of voters in the voters list was prevented. Also the polling was supervised by the Israeli postal authority. The votes were not counted at the polling centers themselves, but first transported to the Jerusalem electoral constituency office in Dahiyat al-Barid. [10] Voters were intimidated by recording the ID card numbers that were listed in the register and registration staff members were detained.[11]
There were difficulties in accessing polling stations. In
The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana criticized Israel for obstructing the Palestinian presidential election. He was quoted as saying that "We expected the Israelis to offer more facilities for the Palestinian election process but they did not live up to promises." [12]
Results
Mahmoud Abbas won the election with over 67% of the votes cast.
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mahmoud Abbas | Fatah | 501,448 | 67.38 | |
Mustafa Barghouti | Independent | 156,227 | 20.99 | |
Taysir Khalid | Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine | 26,848 | 3.61 | |
Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar | Independent | 22,171 | 2.98 | |
Bassam as-Salhi | Palestinian People's Party | 21,429 | 2.88 | |
Sayyid Barakah | Independent | 10,406 | 1.40 | |
Abdel Karim Shubeir | Independent | 5,717 | 0.77 | |
Total | 744,246 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 744,246 | 92.79 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 57,831 | 7.21 | ||
Total votes | 802,077 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,092,407 | 73.42 | ||
Source: IFES |
International response
The EU praised the election, with
References
- ^ 2005: Abbas triumphs in Palestinian elections. BBC, 9 January 2005
- ^ Abbas declared victor in Palestinian election. CNN, 11 January 2005
- ^ Palestinian Landslide For Abbas
- Ynetnews, 16 December 2008
- ^ a b Report on Second Presidential Elections January 9, 2005[permanent dead link], p.115-117
- ^ "Central Elections Commission (CEC) Upcoming Presidential Elections: Facts and Statistics," CEC, 8 January 2005
- ^ CEC, 23 November 2004
- ^ Birzeit University, Dr. Hanna Nasir
- ^ Report on Second Presidential Elections January 9, 2005[permanent dead link], p.33-36. Central Elections Commission (CEC); 30 March 2005
- ^ Report on Second Presidential Elections January 9, 2005[permanent dead link], p.68
- ^ Central Elections Commission (CEC), Elections Arrangements in Jerusalem.
- ^ a b Solana: Israel did not fulfill its commitment to facilitate Palestinian Elections Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, International Middle East Media Center. 11 January 2005
- ^ Abbas achieves landslide poll win, BBC News, 10 January 2005
External links
- Central Elections Commission (CEC)[permanent dead link]
- News reports from IMEMCabout the election
- Angus Reid Consultants - Election Tracker