The Palestinian Elections Law of 1995 expresses the responsibility that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority undertake before the Palestinian People and our national rights, and their commitment to the holding of general elections, as a modern means of achieving a representation for the people based on democratic principles, which will allow us to exercise the government and to promulgate the laws that will rule our destiny and the building up of our future.
The fact that this Law affects only the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, due to the conditions and circumstances and to the nature of the interim period, does not undermine the rights of the Palestinians of the Diaspora and, above all, the refugees, exiled and expelled, who will have the opportunity to exercise their rights in the elections that will follow their return to the Nation.
The establishment of the Palestinian National Authority and the extension of its sovereignty to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has created the adequate conditions for the holding of free and direct elections, under international supervision, which will allow our people to exercise the democratic right to govern themselves.
Elections are a right and a duty imposed by the honour of citizenship and the belonging to the Nation, as well as by the people's will and their democratic choice, and this Law realizes these citizen's rights and duties without submitting them to any restriction.
The holding of elections for the position of President of the National Authority and for the membership of the Council, and their consequent status as members of the Palestinian National Council, serves to ratify the unity of the Palestinian People wherever they may be. This is an important step forward in the way to the realization of their national rights and of their just demands, and in the building up of their future and of institutions responsible to the sovereign people; and to the establishment of a democratic and parliamentary system, based upon freedom of opinion, freedom of parties, submission of the minority to the decisions of the majority and the respect of the minority by the majority, social justice, equality, prevention of discrimination in the exercise of public rights based on religion, colour, race, or between man and woman, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and based upon full allegiance to the Palestinian tradition, civic and spiritual, and upon the centuries long concord among religions.
The Law provides for the holding of elections for the position of President of the National Executive Authority and for the membership of the Council. The Council shall have its own President, who shall be elected by and from among the Council members. All of which serves to ratify the democratic character of the government and the principle of the separation of powers.
The provisions of this Law take into account the conditions of our people during the interim period and their need for a solid political structure that will preserve their national interests, and for a system of government constructed and based upon political pluralism, without any undermining of the right of all to present their candidatures, either in an independent manner or by means of parties' or electoral coalitions' lists.
The Law forbids the possibility of voting or being nominated in more than one constituency and extends this prohibition to the members of the Palestinian National Council; thus no member of the Palestinian National Council may be nominated for election in any of the sixteen electoral constituencies, unless he or she transfers [to them][1] his or her registration in the relevant Diaspora constituency of the Palestinian National Council.
The elections shall be hold based on the majority electoral system, multi-member constituencies and open lists, this being the system followed by the majority of the States of the world; the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, shall be considered one sole constituency for the election of the President of the Palestinian National Executive Authority, whereas the whole of the territories will be divided into 16 electoral constituencies, taking into account the distribution of the population [for the election of the Council].
The Law ensures the freedom and fairness and the democratic character of the electoral process, and the equal treatment for all in the official communication media.