MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

MIFTAH recently completed a series of town hall meetings it began last May, which targeted voters in most districts, in tandem with the end of the registration period for elections and the start of nominations.

The meetings aimed at encouraging women and youth to run in local council elections and stressed on the importance of reviving the concept of citizenship in terms of monitoring the process of forming electoral lists. During this period, field visits to meet with representatives of Palestinian factions and political parties and institutions were increased, in addition to talking to women leaders in order to prompt them to intervene in the formation of lists. The visits also stressed on the importance of abiding by the 2010 pledge made by political factions and parties regarding women’s representation of at least 30%.

Talking points

The 27 town hall meets brought together around 759 voting citizens, both men and women, with the participation of LGU members and Central Election Committee [CEC] branch officials from West Bank and Gaza Strip districts. The discussions focused on the women’s quota and the importance of women’s representation in the election process. They also focused on the importance of understanding the elections law in terms of registration, candidacy and monitoring. They considered the women’s quota as a means for women to reach decision-making positions, stressing on the importance of women’s role in this process and promoting their political participation. Other points of discussion were mechanisms for social monitoring of the elections, explanation of the LGU elections law in Palestine; the mechanism for forming lists; conditions for voting, campaigns and tallying votes; the relationship of the public with their local council; reaffirming women’s and youth representation in lists by no less than 30%; the role of political parties in Palestinian society; pinpointing the most significant obstacles and challenges that prevent women from political participation; and representation of the camps through refugee committees.

Elections and political participation

In response to a call from MIFTAH’s field coordinators, LGU members who participated in the town hall meetings met with women who planned to run in the 2016 local council elections to encourage them to exercise their right to run, to form women’s lists and to motivate other women to vote.

The town hall meetings confirmed the need to support women’s political participation and the importance for the current electoral system to guarantee women’s representation in LGUs. They also stressed on working towards passing laws and legislation that safeguard women’s rights and ensure their role and status in society on an equal basis; other points included: targeting women in associations/organizations through more workshops and courses to promote and develop their leadership and communication skills; organizing training for women participating in the upcoming local council elections; and formulating the foundations, mechanisms and specifications for choosing women for the electoral lists on the basis of competency, experience and capability. The meetings also highlighted the importance of women having a place in local councils and how their presence creates definite changes in social participation.

The recommendations focused raising women’s representation in LGUs by a minimum of 30% in accordance with PLO Central Council decisions; on encouraging them to participate in the elections as their right, whether as voters or candidates; and on putting the right person in the right place through shunning factionalism, partisanship and tribalism.

Both male and female participants recommended that the media focus on the importance of elections and participation. They stressed on the need for these outlets to host women leaders with successful experiences in decision-making positions to highlight the importance of women’s presence in these positions and in policy formulation. Another recommendation was to increase workshops that focus on women and their political participation, especially in marginalized areas and communities. Finally, they recommended that the current elections law is amended into a proportional representation law.

Within these town hall meetings, MIFTAH also organized a meeting for representatives of Palestinian political parties and factions as part of its program for promoting dialogue to impact public policies and to pressure these factions to achieve real representation for women and youth in the upcoming local council elections. This stems from a commitment to the Central Council decision in March, 2015 and to the code of honor signed by the factions and parties in 2010, which stipulates that women are to be represented in elections by no less than 30%. MIFTAH also briefed the faction representatives on the developments in the field in terms of forming lists and women’s absence in these lists. The faction and party representatives admitted that more work and efforts were needed to ensure that women were among the top three names on these lists.

The faction representatives spoke about the most prominent obstacles they face, including: the growing role of family and tribe in the formation of candidate lists at the expense of the role of factions and parties; the weakness and shortcoming of the role of the media in following up issues related to the electoral process. In this regard, they recommended the need to revive the role of the media in a way that would serve and promote women’s and youth participation in the elections. They also recommended reviving cooperation with MIFTAH in regards to training women candidates, in addition to increasing cooperation with the various women’s organizations in order to formulate a training plan for the candidates and enable them to run.

General recommendations and conclusions

The most important conclusions and recommendations made by the participants was: the need to shun tribalism and factionalism while forming lists, especially in towns and villages; calling on political parties and factions to abide by the code of honor they signed pertaining to women’s representation in lists of no less than 30%; calling on the women’s movement to support women who want to run through forming a united women’s list; supporting women’s election campaigns; the need for the media to shed light on the importance of holding elections on their due date and encouraging women and youth to participate as voters and candidates in these elections; calling for necessary follow up and accountability during the presentation of lists and objections to the CEC; the need for the elections law to include accountability of LGU members who fail to abide by their electoral platforms after they win.

The participants also addressed the role of grassroots organizations in their areas and called for increased efforts by community centers and societies on the subject of awareness and education through distributing informative flyers about local council elections.

Some of the recommendations have already been put into motion. MIFTAH helped distribute the CEC publications on local council elections and also collected the names of both male and female youths who want to be monitors on election day, during the town hall meetings. MIFTAH coordinators on the ground also continued to communicate with various media outlets to follow up on the recommendations of the participants in terms of shedding light on the importance of local council elections, promoting the value of citizenship and the need to shed light on issues regarding women’s participation as voters and candidates.

MIFTAH focused on the importance of regarding these elections as service-based and not political elections, on putting the right person in the right place and on learning lessons from the 2012 elections.

“My vote, my right for expression, my right for change”

The town hall meetings were held as part of the “My vote, my right for expression, my right for change” project, which MIFTAH implements in cooperation with the CEC as part of its “Partnership with civil society institutions.” This project is funded by the EU and is one of MIFTAH’s direct interventions aimed at encouraging the voter public to participate in local council elections, to raise awareness to the importance of the electoral process and to active citizenship in impacting, changing, expressing and choosing. It is also aimed at building the capacities of women qualified to run in the local council elections so they are fully prepared. MIFTAH has managed the project since 2003 as part of its Elections Support Program.

Promoting principles of democracy

MIFTAH Project Manager Najwa Yaghi maintained that following these town hall meetings, MIFTAH will begin contacting the women on the electoral lists so as to start phase two, which includes preparing for a training program. This is a capacity-building program for the women in the field of campaign management and preparing electoral platforms. Several training workshops will be organized throughout September, 2016 in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and will have ended before the campaigning period ends in accordance with CEC directives. These awareness and field interventions are all part of MIFTAH’s efforts to push towards promoting democratic principles.

 
 
Arabic...
 
 
Read More...
 
Footer
Contact us
Rimawi Bldg, 3rd floor
14 Emil Touma Street,
Al Massayef, Ramallah
Postalcode P6058131

Mailing address:
P.O.Box 69647
Jerusalem
 
 
Palestine
972-2-298 9490/1
972-2-298 9492
info@miftah.org

 
All Rights Reserved © Copyright,MIFTAH 2023
Subscribe to MIFTAH's mailing list
* indicates required