RAMALLAH, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) on Saturday opened registration for electoral lists seeking to participate in the upcoming legislative elections.
The CEC said in a press statement that it began accepting applications at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) at its headquarters in Al-Bireh in the West Bank and its office in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
The registration period will last 12 days. The commission said a large number of electoral lists submitted applications on the first day in Ramallah and Deir al-Balah.
Under the applicable electoral law, candidates for the Legislative Council must run through electoral lists, and individual candidacies are not accepted. Each list must include between 16 and 132 candidates and meet the legal requirements for women's representation.
Applications must be submitted by the list's coordinator and authorized representative, along with all required forms, documents and supporting materials.
The CEC said all applications will be reviewed and verified to determine whether they meet the legal requirements, stressing that submitting an application does not constitute its acceptance or approval.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree in July setting Nov. 28 as the date for legislative elections, with presidential elections to be held in the first quarter of 2027.
Abbas had previously approved amendments to the electoral law, including increasing the number of seats in the Legislative Council to 200, lowering the minimum age for candidates to 23, increasing women's representation and requiring all candidates to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
The last Palestinian legislative elections were held in 2006, when Hamas won a majority of seats in the Legislative Council. Subsequent tensions between Hamas and Fatah led to a political and geographical division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In April, Palestinians voted in local elections in the West Bank and Deir al-Balah, marking the first voting process since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023. ■
