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elections in Beitunia locality, Ramallah & Al-Bireh locality issued on 9/4/2017 on the argument that the candidate Hassan Issa Hassan Muheisen is not registered or enlisted in Beitunia’s voters’ list and his name is enlisted in Ramallah district. 2. The decision of the respondents comprising rejecting the nomination of the “City for All” list and not to publish it in the list of the electoral lists running in Beitunia local elections, which carries no. (41) due to the failure to meet all the legal provisions and thus depriving all the candidates of the list to run in Beitunia locality elections, Ramallah and Al-Bireh district. Appeal reasoning and Rules On 17/4/2017, the appealers filed this appeal for the following reasons: First: the decisions, subject of this appeal, are deficient since they did not resolve all the reasons stated in the objection submitted by the appealers to the CEC on 9/4/2017 and identifying the legal points that were referred to in (third, fourth and eighth clauses of this objection) in addition to the decision, the subject of this objection, No. 1 issued by the CEO of the CEC that violates the law and fundamental concepts (codes) since it is issued by a body that does not have the capacity or the right to issue it in pursuant to the Local Elections Law No. 10 of 2005 and its amendments. Second: the nomination application of the “The City for All” list via its legal representative fulfils all the legal provisions and was duly submitted and in coherence with the local elections law in terms of nomination provisions and provisions that should apply on each candidate. Third: it is the duty of the CEC and its employees according to the law and regulations, that regulate the work of the CEC and the elections process, to verify and confirm that the nomination applications are complete and meet all the legal requirements. Thus, we cannot say that the CEC’s task is only to receive the application, while the responsibility of information verification is on the list and its candidate, since the guarantee of holding intact legal, democratic elections process fails within the top priorities of the CEC and one of its main reasons of establishment and convention and work, hence; in case of any flaw or fault in the provided information in spite of checking it by the CEC employees, assuming there is one in the first place, this should not be a reason to drop the whole list, because if there is a mistake, it is a material

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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
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Supporting files

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