2022-01-19

West Bank

West Bank / Core Program / position paper

Esteemed Mr. Hisham Kuhail,

The Chief Electoral Officer of the Central Elections Commission

Subject: Your esteemed Commission's response to our memo regarding the assault on a citizen on the background of his candidacy for the local elections in its first round.

Greetings,

We would like to thank you first for your interest in our memo and for your response to it, noting our agreement with you on the date of the assault that is addressed in this memo, further noting that the assault occurred after the end of the first stage of the elections in coincidence with the announcement of the second stage of the second electoral process for local elections approaching, which is the stage of candidacy. What the assault entails is in fact, a serious threat and blunt interference by the security services, which affects and impedes the right of citizens to run for elections and constitutes a blatant interference in the competencies and powers of your esteemed commission, as well as a contradiction of the provisions of Articles 9, 11 and 26 of the Basic Law. And since preserving the integrity and impartiality of the electoral environment is at the core of your duties and competencies, with all that it guarantees of respect for freedom of opinion and expression, political affiliation, the right to electoral competition and to participate in the electoral process by voting and candidacy, and since the behavior of the security services mentioned in the memo – if approved true - affects the integrity of the electoral environment and constitutes a violation of the essence of impartiality, integrity and transparency of the elections, which require your esteemed commission to take all measures and procedures that would prohibit the interference of the security services in the electoral process as in the case of the citizen that is mentioned in our memo to your commission.

Therefore, we renew our request from your esteemed commission to take the legal requirement that guarantees the right to participate in fair, impartial, and transparent elections.

With much respect

Issued on January 19, 2022

Ahlam Tarayra, The Executive Director

MUSAWA