UK, October 2, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - Is it time for Unity Elections? With the next Palestinian elections due end-January, how about including also Palestinian refugees/diaspora, so Palestinians can all express their ‘voting voice' all on the same day? This would be the first time, and something that many Palestinians have been asking for.
Perhaps another idea would be to allow the refugees/diaspora to have their ancestral towns and electoral districts on their Voter Registration cards. This could lead to additional seats being created, in the pre-1967 Israel (West Palestine) to represent these districts, e.g. Haifa. Jaffa, Acre, west Jerusalem and others.
The Palestine Central Elections Commission has well trained and professional people who can organise this, and can be found at www.elections.ps . They need political leaders to give them the go-ahead to proceed. The first elections in 1996, included 1 million registered voters, organised in 10 weeks.
A question could be: How soon could this be organised? The process of Out of Country Voting (OCV) has been developed and used before, and is internationally accepted. When 850,000 Afghan refugees used OCV, it was organised in 80 days - voter registration and voting. For additional information you can see http://aceproject.org Also many Palestinians are in refugee camps which already have their details and history in various refugee organisations, and is public knowledge.
What and who would people be voting for? Using the constituency/proportional system , used in 2006, voters would be able have a choice, leading to representatives for each Holy Land/Palestine electoral district, including where people were expelled from, so giving a unified election result. Anybody could stand for these seats, similar to the existing system.
What would the representatives do? Maybe an idea is to organise a full census - this would help in showing people where refugees would be returning to and how many likely. Maybe the ‘all Palestinian unity elections' would initially register in 70%+ voters - due to time/distances, so another option is to hold the next election1 or 2 years later, with full census details and higher voter registration. This would allow any Palestinian living outside Palestine to have a voter registration card.
The expulsions of people in 1948 and 1967, were also expulsions of ‘voters' The language of the west is democracy. How will western governments react, especially since Afghan refugees were allowed to return to their homes after elections? This could allow many more politicians to stand up and express a pro-democracy opinion for Palestinians. Facts and figures help, also with Americans who like statistics.
Some people mention the Oslo Accords. Reading them, it is vague, Annex 1, section 3:
'3. The future status of displaced Palestinians who were registered on 4th June 1967 will not be prejudiced because they are unable to participate in the election process due to practical reasons.'
There doesn't seem to be anything that prevents the refugees voting, or if necessary organising a parallel election.
Since Israelis, with American passports, living in Israel/Palestine can also vote in American elections, and also Israelis living in America can vote in Israeli elections, why not Palestinians in refugee camps and around the world vote in Palestinian elections? Why keep them in reserve?
Also having elected representatives for refugees will help with negotiations and visiting overseas Parliaments, to put their case. It's likely for any solution for the refugees, that they would also like a referendum, so having voter registration also helps with peace and other opportunities.
The ballot boxes could also be labelled with ancestral electoral districts, e.g. Haifa, Jaffa, etc, so TV reporting can show refugees placing their ballot papers into these boxes, and sending these images around the world. Results for voter registration numbers and election results could be broadcast similar to US elections, showing state by state results, as they come in, making it also TV news for around the world.
So what could Palestinians do to help this process?
They could contact politicians/journalists asking: ‘Is there a date for organising voter registration of refugees/diaspora?', ‘Are refugees/diaspora going to also vote in the next election?s', or even ‘How about having Unity Elections, where Palestinians in the West bank, Gaza , and also refugees/diaspora vote as one, on the same day?'
Palestinians in camps or around the world, could see if they would like to help and be part of the impartial teams organising the elections, for example:
Voter Registration: Registration officer, Photographer, Lamination Officer, Queue Controllers, etc.
Election/Polling: Queue Controller, Identification and Inking Officer, Ballot Issuer, Ballot Box Controller
It could be possible to put examples on Youtube, showing:
* people bringing papers to register to vote
* receiving a Voter Registration card
* then, arriving at a polling station, with Voter Registration card
* being given an election Ballot Paper
* going to a booth, to make their choice
* placing their ballot paper in a ballot box, maybe with electoral district written on ballot box
* then an example election results, showing all the Holy Land/Palestine electoral districts, with number of votes cast, and early results
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The right to return includes the right to registering and voting for their towns. This is something all Palestinian parties could agree on, as a positive vision. Unity elections offer the first all-Palestinian and all Palestine elections.
by Hugo van Randwyck
Hugo van Randwyck is a training and implementation consultant. He has travelled to Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and the Lebanon, including Sabra Shatilla. For over 2 years he has been looking at easy ways for Palestinian refugees/diaspora to be included in Palestinian elections.
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