Today, the Palestinian Court of Elections Appeals decided to assign Thursday 13 January to look into Al Mezan Center for Human Rights' appeal to repeat the Presidential Elections in all the Civil Registry polling centers in the OPT.
The Center brought the case before the Court yesterday after the Election Central Commission's (CEC) did not respond to its request to cancel its decision concerning allowing for Palestinian citizens to vote at these stations without being registered, which breaches the Palestinian Electoral Law and its amendment.
The CEC announced this decision around 5pm on 9 January 2005- the Election Day.
In principle, this decision is a breach of Article 1 in the Amendment of the Electoral Law, 13/1995, which states that only those citizens who are registered can vote.
Additionally, and following its announcement, the Center's observers reported that serious breaches of the Electoral Law took place in the Civil Registry polling centers in the Gaza Strip, and collected much evidence concerning such breaches.
Al Mezan emphasizes the necessity to respect the law to ensure maximum integrity and democracy in running the elections, and the lawlessness of the CEC's decision and calls the Palestinian Judiciary to ensure full rule of law.
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