A Palestinian source said that Israel refused entry to representatives of the Central Elections Commission into the Gaza Strip and the occupied city of Jerusalem, as part of preparations for the legislative elections scheduled for late November.
The Israeli government refused to allow the committee to enter Gaza and Jerusalem to monitor the election process, without providing further details.
On July 9, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree setting November 28 as the date for legislative elections in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which would be the first of their kind since 2006, if they are held.
On September 26, the Election Commission began receiving applications to register electoral lists, and during the first four days it received applications to register 8 lists, while applications will continue to be received until October 13.
Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh stated in a meeting with journalists on August 2nd that if elections cannot be held “because they are prevented or obstructed in the Gaza Strip or any other part of the Palestinian territories, the alternative plan is to form the National Council by consensus, considering the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
The number of Palestinians eligible to vote is approximately 2.97 million, including about 1.59 million in the West Bank, 1.24 million in the Gaza Strip, and about 140,000 holders of Jerusalem identity cards.
The last Palestinian legislative elections were held in 2006, followed by the Palestinian political split between the Fatah and Hamas movements, with Hamas winning a majority of seats and taking control of the Gaza Strip after about a year, while the Palestinian Authority remained under the leadership of the Fatah movement in the West Bank.
Since 2007, the work of the Palestinian Legislative Council has been disrupted, and the Supreme Constitutional Court issued a decision to dissolve it in 2018.
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