Previous 6 / 12 Next

issued by Ramallah First Instance court in case no. 2/2012 of electoral objections. Ninth: the decisions, subject of this objection, issued by the respondents do not comply with the rules of justice and fairness as well as a gross violation of article 20, paragraph 3 of the Palestinian basic law (Article 26 of the Basic Law 2002) which states the following: “To Vote and nominate for election, representatives among them by ballot in accordance with the law.” This paragraph came to clarify one of the most important ways of how the Palestinians can effectively participate in the political life and the local elections law then enacted to draw the ways and methods to ensure this participation and the full practice of such rights. Hence, the decisions of the respondents’ to reject the whole list of “The City for All” as one of the competing lists for Beitunia local elections is breach of this legal principle and violation of the list candidates to participate and nominate for elections without any legal reason or justification and in a way that contradict with the natural role and primary objective for forming the CEC, which is guarantee and safeguard the Palestinians right to participate in the political life in accordance with the principle of equal opportunities. Tenth: the decisions, subject of the appeal and objections, do not reconcile or comply with the issue of safeguarding the electoral process and decrease the chances for having local council that is competent and strong, in addition to its impact on the national peace and confidence that the elections process must be characterized of especially taking into consideration the social fabric of Beitunia, since the decision of refusing this list and depriving its candidates from participating in the elections process has denied many social sectors from the right od representation in the local council of Beitunia, due to the diversity of candidates of the list who represent several components of the social fabric and sectors of Beitunia, specifically, the marginalized sectors such as laborers, youth and other sectors. petitioning the results and on the ground of fairness and justice, the appealers through their attorney are appealing to the court to accept this appeal in form and substance and as result to revoke and cancel the decisions that are the subject of the appeal consider it as if they were not issued and to decide to accept the nomination request of “the City for All” list to participate and compete in the local elections of Beitunia- Ramallah and Al-Bireh district,

Select target paragraph3

● ● ●

City for All List, et. al v. Palestinian Central Election Commission, et. al

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the error in registration on the voter list of one candidate from an independent candidate list should result in rejecting the application of all the candidates on the list, and thus the entire list, from running for election.

Alleged Acts: The plaintiffs allege that the Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) improperly rejected the nomination of the City for All List (“the List”) for the Beituna elections because one of the List’s members, Hasan Issa Hassan Muheisen, was not properly registered on the Beituna’s voters’ list, but rather on the voters’ list in Ramallah. As a result of the rejection, the plaintiffs allege that all the candidates on the City for All List were deprived of their right to run for election.

Procedural history: The CEC rejected the candidates on the City for All List from running in the Beitunia, Ramallah, and Al-Bireh municipal elections due to the ineligibility of one candidate on the list. The City for All List, in conjunction with 11 members of the List as individual candidates on the list, appealed the CEC’s decision to the Electoral Court.

Summary: The plaintiffs are the City for All List and 11 individual applicant-candidates of the List who allege that the CEC improperly barred the List and its members from running in municipal elections because one of the List’s candidates, Hasan Issa Hassan Muheisen, was not registered on the voter roll in Beitunia municipality. Instead, Hassan Muheisen was registered on the voter roll in Ramallah municipality. The CEC refused to register the City for All List, the candidate Muheisen, and all other the member-candidates running on the City for All List because of Muheisen’s lack of registration on the voter roll in the Beitunia municipality, where they wished to compete in the election. The plaintiffs provide a series of reasons for contesting the CEC’s rejection. First, the rejection is generally invalid because the CEC did not address all the issues raised by the plaintiffs in their appeal to the CEC on 9/7/2017. They argued that the List was submitted properly and met all requirements under election law and that, it is the responsibility of the CEC, not the party or the candidates, to “verify and confirm that the nomination applications are complete and meet all the legal requirements.” The plaintiffs also stated that the CEC assumed, without mentioning proof, that the plaintiffs submitted the List in bad faith and for the purpose of getting around the laws regulating the election process. Additionally, candidate Hassan Muheisen is a resident of Beitunia and “was committed to paying all his due fees and taxes” imposed for misregistering on the Ramallah voter roll. They argue that an entire list can only be rejected in instances where withdrawing a candidate(s) causes the total number of candidates on the list to fall below “the majority of the number of seats allocated to the electoral district” in accordance with article 14, paragraph 5 of Local Election Law No. 10 of 2005. Therefore, Hassan Muheisen being kept on or removed from the List will not affect the legal order of the other candidates or the validity of the List at large. And, rejecting the entire List instead of only removing Hassan Muheisen violates Articles 14, 16, 17, 18, and 20 of the Local Elections Law No. 10 of 2005. They added that the rejection of the List violates the rights of the List candidates to participate in political life “in accordance with the principles of equal opportunities.” Finally, the CEC’s rejection does not safeguard the elections process, does not allow for a strong and competent local council and does not restore citizens’ trust in the elections process. In its decision on appeal, the Electoral Court cited Article 14(5) of the Local Elections Law No. 10 of 2005 mandating that the number of candidates on an electoral list could not be less than the majority of seats for the contested locality. Even though candidate Hassan Muheisen had not correctly registered on the voter roll, the Court held that the number of remaining registered candidates on the List did not fall below the required threshold. Therefore, the Court held that the City for All List was still valid and its members are eligible to run in the Beitunia municipal elections. The Court concluded that the CEC’s interpretation of Local Elections Law No. 10 of 2005 was incorrect and its rejection of the List partially violated the law. Consequently, the Electoral Court reversed the CEC ruling for the party and all the party’s members, except for the candidate who did not register correctly.

Conclusion: The CEC decision is reversed for all appellants, except for Hasan Issa Hassan Muheisen, and the registration for the City for All List is accepted to compete in the municipal elections.

Legal Issue(s)

Candidate Eligibility
Candidate Registration

Applicable Law(s): Article 14, Paragraph 5 of the Local Elections Law No. 10 of 2005

Region: Middle East and North Africa

Country: Palestine

Language of Decision

Arabic

Court: Electoral Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Apr 23, 2017

Geolocation

Latitude: 31.467569093559153

Longitude: 34.42376471221693

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

ELECTORAL COURT Case 4-2017.pdf
English
Download View

Supporting files

pdf

ELECTORAL COURT Case 4-2017 Dissenting Opinion .pdf70.87 kB

Election Judgments - IFES

Select target paragraph3

City for All List, et. al v. Palestinian Central Election Commission, et. al

Primary Documents

Supporting files

Notifications