All Palestinians World Wide Should Be Able To Vote

Benefits of Voter Registration of All Palestinians

PNN | Palestine News Network
Hugo van Randwyck – PNN – Voter registration of all Palestinians – West Bank, Gaza, refugees, diaspora – will help with unity, Unity Elections, help the world ‘see and hear’ the refugees/diaspora, help politicians in other countries peak out and relook at policies.

Palestinian Elections – 2010

How would voter registration work? Firstly, the internationally recognised process of Out of Country Voting (OCV) could be used. Every Palestinian wherever they live could have a voter registration card showing their Palestinian town/village of origin and also their current address – this would apply to children and grandchildren of refugees as well. The Palestine Central Elections Commission (Palestine CEC), www.elections.ps in Ramallah has a first class international reputation, and can do the training for overseas registration and voting process.
The second part is voting. Palestinians could voter for people to represent their town/village of origin. For example, Jaffa, Acre, Haifa and others.
How could this help the Palestinians and people around the world supporting peace? The action of having a unified voter registration list of all voters, is in itself a unifying process. For the first time, all Palestinians will be able to express their voting voice, and also have an opportunity to speak in referendums. Also people around the world will be able to see that in 1948, as well as people being expelled from the Holy Land, ‘voters’ were expelled, and have been prevented from voting.
The process of voter registration around the globe as well as around the Holy Land, will provide TV news media with continuous news. For example: ‘Good evening, here is the news, latest Palestinian voter registration figures today show, that there are 200,000 voters for Jaffa, 175,000 for Haifa, 65,000 for Nazareth, 75,000 for Bethlehem, 225,000 for Acre etc. The estimated Palestinian eligible voters registered so far is 35%, with the Lebanon refugees camps complete, and in Jordan….’. This can also be graphically/pictorially shown, maybe similar to US elections which show state by state results. This will allow overseas political parties to decide if they support voter registration, and also other organisations and groups.
Having got a voter registration roll, then a question could be, do people vote for the PNC, Palestine National Congress, or the PA, Palestine Authority, or even both? Also for how long? 4 years, or is better for 1 or 2 years, since maybe not everyone will be registered to vote first time i.e. it may be 85% to 90% – which gives a chance for elections, with a follow up election, with even more people registered. The benefits of having earlier than later elections, could be better.
By having all Palestinians vote in Unity Elections, they can walk into polling stations, and put their voting paper into a ballot box, which has their electoral district of origin, e.g. Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, etc. clearly marked/labelled and visible for TV cameras. So the world TV media can show people around the world, what has been happening. For those people who live in countries where the media has been biased, and they see this for the first time, people could see a new picture, and start to ask new questions.
For the first time, all Palestinians will have voted for one representative body, to speak on their behalf and negotiate and talk with overseas parties – in a unified way. Since there are people who like facts and figures, the facts of voter registration and votes counted, will be there for everyone to see. Voter registration and Unity Elections are pro-democracy initiatives that people can support.
The first 1996 elections were organised in 10 weeks for 1 million voters, in the West Bank and Gaza – voter registration and voting. With a highly experienced team from the Palestine CEC, it could be possible to register refugees in the Lebanon and Jordan, in similar time, and also many people around the world. UNRWA records have information on refugees and towns/villages of origin. There could be another 2 million additional voters.
It’s time for all Palestinians to have a vote, having elected representatives who can speak for them and listen to them, letting the world ‘see and hear’ them, seeing the peaceful side of Palestinians, and making it easier for overseas people to relook at their policies.
Hugo van Randwyck has travelled to Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and the Lebanon, including Sabra Shatilla, on holidays. He realised that the media in the West does not show the full story, and that the public do not ‘see and hear’ the Palestinian refugees/diaspora. He has skills in implementation consulting and realised that the Palestinians have all the skills for running Unity Elections.
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