From November 12 to December 2, 1995, Palestinians throughout the West Bank - including Jerusalem - and the Gaza Strip were called upon to register for the first Palestinian elections to be held on January 20, 1996. To assure that all Palestinians eligible to vote can make use of their civic rights and register for the Electoral Register a vast canvass was organized.
The responsibility for the voters registration, as well as for the preparation and the conduct of the elections, lies with the Central Election Commission (CEC) which has been appointed by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). To fulfill its tasks the CEC has established District Election Offices (DEOs) and Polling Station Commissions (PSCs). Each PSC is responsible for the conduct of the canvass, registration, polling and the count within its polling district.
During the canvass, all over the 16 election districts about 7000 teachers - in their function as members of the local PSCs - were going from door to door for the initial voters registration. Their task was to ask every Palestinian over the age of 17 to fill in a registration form containing name, sex, date and place of birth as well as the address. Where a person was absent from the home on all visits of the PSC (e.g. persons in jail, under long term hospital care or traveling for a long trip), a relative could fill in and sign the form on his or her behalf. If this person will be at home on January 20, he or she has the right to vote.
Resulting from the canvass, the CEC published a draft Electors Register on December 10. It will be displayed in each polling district at the site of the PSC. Potential voters then had five days for registration claims or appeals. The final Electoral Register was published on December 30, 1995. The same day an additional registration period started. Registrations will be open until January 5, 1996 and give especially released prisoners who have not been registered by their families the possibility to make use of their civic rights to register as voters. A supplementary register will be published on January 17.
To inform the Palestinian population about the importance of the first elections, a vast civic education and awareness campaign was started on November 3, 1995. This campaign contained advertising in the Voice of Palestine radio, in the Television of Palestine and in local newspapers as well as posters, stickers and banners, and was supported largely by the European Union. The European Union also supports the preparation for the first Palestinian elections through technical assistance and is action as coordinating body for international observer delegations as stated in the Interim Agreement.