Abbas extends the nomination period for the Palestinian Legislative elections to 18 days

The official Palestinian News Agency 'WAFA' said on Sunday that Abbas issued 'an amended law decision to the law decision No. (1) of 2007 regarding general elections and its amendments', which stipulates increasing the nomination period for the elections from 12 to 18 days.

It explained that the amendment came 'to align with the difficult field reality experienced by the Palestinian people', amid the continued strict restrictions on the movement and travel of citizens due to the security and political conditions in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

It pointed out that the extension of the nomination period aims to give electoral lists and candidates a longer and more flexible time to overcome geographical obstacles, and enable them to complete and prepare their official nomination papers and submit them to the Central Elections Commission under these exceptional and complex circumstances.

In this context, the Central Elections Commission announced on Sunday that it had received a nomination application from a new list named 'Al-Feniks', raising the number of lists that submitted registration requests to 7.

The Commission had announced on Saturday that it had received nomination applications from 6 lists, namely: 'Coalition for Palestine's Future', 'Justice and Construction', 'Unity and Democratic Change', 'National Initiative (Mustafa Barghouti and Independents)', 'New Path', and 'Work'.

The Commission confirmed that submitting a nomination application does not mean the final acceptance of the list, as the applications are subject to review and scrutiny to ensure that they meet the legal requirements and that the required forms and documents are complete, and the decision will be made and officially communicated within three days of submitting the application.

According to the Commission, nomination for membership in the Legislative Council is through electoral lists only, and individual nomination applications are not accepted, with the number of candidates on the list not being less than 16 and not exceeding 132 candidates, while adhering to the minimum representation of women according to the provisions of the law.

A decree by the Palestinian President issued in August last year stipulated that the list should include a minimum representation of women, with one woman among the first three names, and a woman in every four names following that in each list.

According to the timetable adopted by the Elections Commission, the electoral campaign will start on November 6, while the preliminary voting for security forces will be held on November 26.

On July 9 last year, the Palestinian President issued a decree setting November 28 as the date for holding the legislative elections in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, to be the first of its kind since 2006.

The work of the Palestinian Legislative Council has been disrupted since 2007 following the Palestinian division, while the High Constitutional Court issued a decision to dissolve it in 2018.

Legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2021 were canceled after a decision by President Abbas to postpone them, justifying this by the absence of Israeli approval that guarantees the participation of Palestinians in the occupied East Jerusalem.

The upcoming elections are the third for the Palestinian Legislative Council, after the elections of 1996 and 2006, while the number of seats in the upcoming Council is 132.