Palestinian Elections Law

Part II: Electoral Registration

Art. 15: The right to be registered and the duty to register

1. Any person who is willing to vote and meets all the requirements to be an elector has the right to request to be enter on the electoral register.
2. No elector shall be registered in a district different from that where he or she resides.
3. Nobody lacking any of the requirements to be an elector shall be registered.

Art. 16: The registration

1. The registration of electors shall be carried out by the Polling Station Commissions.

2. Any person having the right to vote may request to be enter on the electoral register. [The elector shall provide the Polling Station Commission with] the following information:
   1. Full name.
   2. Sex.
   3. Date and place of birth.
   4. Abode.
   5. Type of identification card held and its number.
   6. Declaration certifying that all information is true and correct.
   7. Date of application.
   8. Signature.
3. Means of identification admitted in the territory.
4. For the purpose of this Law:
   1. "Abode" means the main permanent fixed address within any polling district in which, at the time of the initial registration canvass, a person actually lives.
   2. "Address" is the community, house, street, neighbourhood or other description identifying the person's specific abode.
5. The abode of any person may be evidenced by any of the means used for this purpose in the territory. [Among these means] the testimony of three neighbours aged eighteen years or more and resident in the same polling district, or any document proving that the individual has paid on his or her name municipal taxes in that area, must also be accepted.
6. The Polling Station Commission, having verified the correctness of the data mentioned in paragraph 2 above, shall enter the name of the elector on the electoral register.
7. The process of registration of electors shall be public and open to the scrutiny of international and domestic observers, and to the information media.

Art. 17: Claims and relating to the electoral register

1. Any person who has not been included in the initial electoral register, or whose data are incorrectly expressed, may file a claim for inclusion or against the erroneous registration before the Polling Station Commission. A claim may also be filed by any person who has seen the erroneous inclusion or omission in the electoral register of any other person.
2. Claims shall be submitted in a written form, including all the necessary supporting documents, within 5 days from the publication of the electoral register.
3. The Polling Station Commission shall adopt a decision within 7 days from the presentation of the claim.
4. If the claim refers to any other person than the claimant, the Polling Station Commission shall not adjudicate without having first make it known to the affected person and having heard his or her representations.
5. The decision of the Polling Station Commission is subject to appeal to the Central Election Commission.
6. The initial electoral register shall be amended in accordance with the decisions taken by the Polling Station Commissions, in the case of claims, and by the Central Election Commission, in the case of appeals.

Art. 18: Appeal against the Polling Station Commission's decisions

1. The decisions taken by the Polling Station Commission may be appealed to the Central Election Commission within 3 days from their notification.
2. The Central Election Commission shall adjudicate on the appealed decision within 3 days from its filing. [The Central Election Commission's decision] shall be final and not subject to further appeal.

Art. 19: The final electoral register

1. Once the period for claims is finished and the claims filed against the initial register are adjudicated, the electoral register shall be considered definitive or final, and the vote shall be conducted based upon it.
2. The Polling Station Commission shall display the electoral register at the place of its site to make it known by the public, and shall lodge a copy with the relevant District Election Commission and with the Central Election Commission.
3. The Central Election Commission shall compile the final electoral register based on the copies of the final electoral registers provided by each Polling Station Commission.

Art. 20: Access to the electoral register

1. The electoral register is a public document which shall be open for public inspection.
2. The representative of any partisan entity registered before the Central Election Commission, shall have access to the copies of the electoral register, either through the National Election Office, or through the District Election Offices. Independent candidates shall also have access to the electoral register.

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