Q&A Palestinian local elections in 2009?

While the schedule of the next Presidential elections is a matter of public debate between Hamas and the President’s Office, local elections do not seem to be on anyone’s radar, and it is unclear if there is political will to hold them in the near future.

IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems) has put together short Q&A that seeks to provide some basic information regarding local elections in the Palestinian territories.

The Q&A provides information on legal and electoral framework of local elections, but does not discuss current political environment nor likelihood that elections will be held.

Download Q&A here: IFES Q&A on Local Elections

Resources

The Basic Law

2003 Amended Basic Law (current)
2005 Amendment to the Basic Law (current)
2002 Basic Law (previous)
2005 Proposals to amend the Basic Law (not passed)
2003 Permanent Constitution draft (not passed)
1995 Basic Law draft by PLO (not passed)
1994 Basic Law draft by PLO (not passed)

Elections law

2007 Elections Law (Presidential decree) (current)
2005 Elections law (previous)
1995 Elections law (previous)
2005 Local elections law (current)

Expert opinions on Palestinian elections

Presidential decrees

Executive decrees and legislation June 2007-June 2008 (updated 28 August 2008)
Presidential decrees Issued on June - July 2007

Other resources

Selected readings

External resources

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About

Facts about the Basic Law

The Palestinian Basic Law is to function as a temporary constitution for the Palestinian Authority until the establishment of an independent state and a permanent constitution for Palestine can be achieved.

The Basic Law was passed by the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1997 and ratified by President Yasser Arafat in 2002. It has subsequently been amended twice; in 2003 the political system was changed to introduce a prime minister. In 2005 it was amended to conform to the new Election Law. The 2003 reform was comprehensive and affected the whole nature of the Palestinian political system, whereas the 2005 amendment was only minor and affected only a few paragraphs.

A parallel effort has been made to draft a permanent Palestinian constitution for an independent state, but this was shelved in favor of amending the existing Basic Law.

About this site

This website presents a collection of various drafts and amendments related to the Basic Law and other constitutional texts that have been compiled from various other sources.

You can also expect to find links to news items and reports that are of relevance to Palestinian constitutional law, the electoral framework, political reform and the PA branches of government.

The website was created by the Norwegian journalists Erik Bolstad and Tonje M. Viken in February 2008. The site is a private initiative and has no affiliation to any organizations or authorities.

All external links are purely for information purposes and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of this site.

Information and contact details.

The Palestinian Basic Law