Palestinian election supervisors resign over interference, lack of transparency News
Palestinian election supervisors resign over interference, lack of transparency

[JURIST] The Palestinian Election Commission (CEC) [official website, in Arabic], an independent commission that supervises elections in the Palestinian Authority [JURIST news archive], resigned Thursday in protest of the government's decision to allow 60,000 security forces to cast votes in the January 25 parliamentary elections in their barracks instead of in their districts. After receiving the resignation letter, however, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie's cabinet later retracted its decision, and the CEC may reconsider its resignation. CEC President Hanna Nasser said permitting the forces to vote in their barracks would amount to interference and lack of transparency in the election process. President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] has been encouraged by some in his Fatah party [party website, in Arabic] to delay the election, amid fears that Hamas [NPS backgrounder], the militant Islamic group running in the parliamentary elections for the first time, will make substantial gains. Reuters has more.

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