The Role of the Palestinian Local Authorities Elections in the Activation of Political Participation

This study discusses the issue of local bodies (authorities) elections in Palestine and its role in reinforcing and activating the political participation. It focuses on the local elections that were conducted under the Palestinian National Authority in 2004. The study has revealed the social and political aspects that interacted and was affected by those elections. It also examined the issue of local authorities in Palestine through two dimensions. The first is the historical development of the local authorities in the country during the different eras which include the Ottoman, the British, the Jordanian and the Egyptian periods in addition to the Israeli occupation era and the current situation with the Palestinian Authority. The other dimension is the legal one. That is through reviewing the laws that are related to the local government authorities and the regulations related to the elections that are still controversial such as the relative representation law with its advantages and disadvantages. Also the role of these laws in activating political participation. This study has also addressed the elections of the Palestinian local authorities (bodies) that have been conducted in 2004 and 2005 under the Palestinian National Authority which were not completed. It also discussed the major aspects of those elections such as the different stages, the results, the areas that were included and those which were excluded, the groups of people who were deprived from participating in the elections and finally the voting rates in the different constituencies. It also addressed the fifth stage of the elections, the reasons why it was cancelled. The study further explained the woman's participation in the local bodies elections and the rates it obtained through the election system that gave the woman a place in the local bodies. Through analyzing the elections of the Palestinian local bodies, a number of conclusions and recommendations have been provided: - The elections law of the local bodies has been subject to modification and replacement many times during the different election stages, which confused both the voters and the nominees. - The elections law did not require a minimum level of education on the part of the members to be nominated for the membership in the local bodies councils. - The whole process was not totally democratic because it was conducted in different stages that were not complete and did not include all the Palestinians, that is a large number of people were excluded. However, it provided a chance for a participation in the elections.