CONSEIL LEGISLATIF PALESTINIEN (CLP)

Suffrage Universel, un site indépendant consacré à la participation politique des minorités ethnonationales et religieuses
accueil - droit de vote des étrangers- partis ethniques - sièges réservés, quotas
Allemagne - Belgique - Danemark - Etats-Unis - France - Pays-Bas - Royaume-Uni

CONSEIL LEGISLATIF PALESTINIEN (CLP)

(source: MEDEA)

Le Conseil Legislatif Palestinien - élu le 20 janvier 1996 - se compose de 88 sièges répartis comme suit:

Fatah: 49 (comprenant un siège "Fatah-Islam")
Indépendants affiliés au Fatah: 15
Indépendants (mouvance islamiste): 4
Indépendants: 17
Autres: 3 (le Fida, faction dissidente du FDLP, proche du Fatah, le "Bloc Indépendant pour la Liberté", et la "Coalition Démocratique" dirigée par Haïdar Abdel Chafi)

Des sièges sont attribués aux minorités religieuses: six pour les Chrétiens et un pour les Samaritains. Les six sièges chrétiens ont été remportés par trois candidats du Fatah et trois candidats indépendants; l'élu samaritain est un indépendant affilié au Fatah.

Voters, candidates, reserved seats (source: Umma Press; written before the elections):

"Eligible voters must be Palestinians over 17 years of age. They must have either a Palestinian or an Israeli ID and should not have been subject to any criminal sentences. Eligible candidates must be Palestinians above 30 years of age. (…) About 1,100,000 Palestinians have registered their names on the voters' lists. They constitute 90% of the Palestinians who have the right to vote."

"Palestinian President Yasser Arafat issued a decision allocating the seats of the Palestinian legislative council, devoting six seats to Christians and one seat to the Sameri sect. (…)The seats have been allocated as follows: Seven for Jerusalem, 11, for Gaza, one for Jericho, 5 for Rafah, 8 for Nablus, one for Selphite, 4 for Tulkarm, 4 for Bethlehem, 7 for North Gaza, 10 for Hebron, one for Topas, 7 for Ramallah, 6 for Jenin, 5 for Deir Al-Balah, 2 for Qalqilia, and 8 for Khan Yunus. The six seats of Christians have been assigned by Arafat as follows: one for Gaza, one for Ramallah, 2 for Bethlehem and 2 for Jerusalem."

"THE SAMARITANS, THE SMALLEST COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD THAT OPPOSES ISRAEL

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat allocated a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council to the Samaritan community which lives in the Gizrim Mountain near Nablus on the West Bank and is 1500 persons strong. In this move Arafat has shed light on that community which goes back to the days of Prophet Moses. They do not lend importance to Jerusalem as the Israelis do, considering the Gizrim mountain as more important. Palestinians in Jordan who have been living in the West Bank before it was occupied by Israel in 1967 say that this religious community known as the Samaritans is the smallest in the world. It lives in the Gizrim mountain which rises 870 metres above sea level overlooking the city of Nablus. At that time (before 1967) it numbered no more than 500 people. All the men wear long beards and they buy their provisions from the Nablus markets. They speak Arabic in the local dialect of Nablus. Those people say that the Samaritans are mysterious as people know nothing of them and of their social life. Their women and children do not appear in Nablus. But everybody knows that they are Jews who do not support Israel. They are an isolated religious community living up the mountain. The Samaritans keep this isolation and mystery by inter-marrying. Their women appear only with thick veils covering their faces and the rest of their body. They do not eat from the food of others and do not combine meat and milk in one meal. A custom that has the force of law among them is to circumcise the boy child on the eighth day after birth no excuses are expected for delay. This community says that it owns the oldest manuscript of the Torah dating back to 3640 years ago and written 13 years after the death of the Prophet Moses. The Samaritans have been carrying Jordanian passports from 1950 up to the present. They say that they agree with Muslims in several religious points. It is curious that their numbers have been steadily declining to become only five men and five women by the beginning of the sixteenth century. Today, this number is estimated at 1500 approximately. The Samaritans believe that they are the heirs of the children of Israel and the protectors of the Torah who keep its Ten Commandments. Yasser Arafat has exceptionally honoured this community by granting it a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council though its size does not call for this. But it seems that the fact that this faction alone of all other Jewish groups does not cling to Jerusalem (in fact rejecting this) is the political motive behind the allocation of a special seat for them. The Samaritans can be counted as a Jewish support for Arafat as he faces the most complicated issue after regaining the towns of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - the question of Jerusalem."

Hanane Achraoui (Hanan Ashrawi)

"Elue en janvier 1996 comme candidate indépendante, elle est maintenant un des deux membres chrétiens du Conseil Législatif Palestinien (CLP) élus à Jérusalem. Elle a été également Ministre de l'Enseignement Supérieur dans le cabinet d'Arafat jusqu'à sa démission en août 1998." (source: MEDEA, septembre 1998)