Elections... The delay is understandable… but until when? By: Dr. Suhair Youssef Sahweil, Researcher in Educational Technology and Social Issues... The delay is understandable… but until when? I am in favor of delaying the elections a little. Not because I see the elections as unimportant, nor because we do not need to renew political life; on the contrary. But I do not believe that this moment, with all its pain and complexity, is the moment we can say we are ready to hold elections as they should be. There is a difference between postponing the entitlement until we prepare the circumstances for it, and postponing it until we forget it. And this difference is what makes me somewhat worried. The Palestinians need real elections where people feel that their voices matter, and that they can truly choose who represents them. We need elections that are not just a procedure to fill a political void, but rather the beginning of restoring trust between people and institutions. But at the same time, we do not have the luxury of a long delay. The world is changing around us rapidly, and the Palestinian cause is going through a very sensitive phase. There are new international recognitions and positions, there are significant political pressures, and there are recurring questions about the future of the Palestinian political system, who represents the Palestinians, and how its legitimacy can be renewed. In such circumstances, I do not think that the continuation of the political vacuum can be without cost. Elections tomorrow may not be the solution, but their absence for an indefinite period is not a solution either. We need a short and clear period during which we arrange what can be arranged: conditions for participation, voting mechanisms, ensuring the widest possible representation, the ability to include people from Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank, and providing an electoral environment where citizens feel that their voice will not just be a number in a box. Then we go to the elections. We do not want rushed elections just because the time has come, nor do we want another delay because the circumstances have not become ideal. For ideal circumstances may never come. What we want is to know why we are delaying, how long we are delaying, and what we will do during the delay period. This, for me, is the most important point. Because the problem is not in a few additional months if they will make the elections more serious and representative. The problem is that the months turn into years, and the delay becomes a new political habit, and we get used once again to living away from the ballot boxes and from our right to choose who represents us. And I believe that this is precisely what we should pay attention to as we talk about international isolation. We cannot attribute all the reasons for isolation to the absence of elections; the issue is much bigger than that, and it relates to occupation, war, division, and international and regional positions. But on the other hand, we cannot underestimate the power of having renewed Palestinian institutions that are based on the will of the people. We demand that the world sees the Palestinians as a people with the right to self-determination. And the world also has the right to see before it Palestinian institutions that derive their legitimacy from this people. Therefore, yes, I am in favor of delaying the elections a little if the delay will make them better. But I am in favor of a delay that has a date, limits, and a clear goal. As for delaying because we fear the moment, then delaying because the circumstances have not improved, and then the delay becomes the norm… Then we have not solved the problem. We have only moved it forward. And I believe that the Palestinians have suffered enough from postponed matters. Even their right to voice their opinion should not remain postponed indefinitely.
By: Ahmad Younis Shaheen Journalist The Palestinian political system has witnessed rapid transformations that have led to the emergence of deep legitimacy crisis features affecting its various official and factional components. This coincided with the emergence of regional and international proposals and initiatives aiming to re-engineer this system to align with the "next day" scenarios for managing the Gaza Strip. These transformations are a result of the changing centers of geographical and political weight between the West Bank and Gaza; while Ramallah historically represented the administrative and decision-making center, developments on the ground in Gaza have imposed a new reality that has made the Gaza Strip the main axis for future political and security arrangements and initiatives linked to multiple international parties. Amid this structural crisis, the issue of Palestinian legislative elections is raised as one of the contentious paths to rebuild and enhance legitimacy and renew political elites. Despite the bet on the ballot box as a democratic tool to express popular will in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza, the factional conflict over this entitlement does not stop at procedural aspects but is primarily centered on the struggle for alliances and the construction of new political alignments. Various forces seek to form broad fronts and cross-factional blocs to ensure a parliamentary majority, where the struggle intertwines between the desire of some parties to build alliances that protect their historical legitimacy and the direction of others towards formulating alternative national alliances capable of imposing a new equation that balances international community conditions and guarantees their political participation while excluding a movement that still holds the responsible and independent official Palestinian decision. This intense competition for engineering alliances makes any electoral step without prior political agreements a move that could deepen the existing impasse, in addition to external obstacles represented by Israeli intransigence and the prevention of voting in East Jerusalem. In this context, the Palestinian Authority faces dual challenges represented in its attempt to prove its institutional and security readiness to manage the sector and undertake administrative tasks there, at a time when it suffers from a decline in its actual influence and exhaustion of its procedural capabilities in the West Bank due to the rapid expansion of settlements and economic and legal pressures. In contrast, resistance forces face intense international and regional conditions aimed at excluding them from the official administrative scene and imposing disarmament as a prerequisite for funding reconstruction projects. External proposals push towards adopting alternative governmental formulas based on competencies or independent technocratic committees to manage daily life affairs away from factional tensions, as a compromise to overcome the representation impasse. However, these approaches face varying interpretations that see any administrative entity or legislative electoral process not based on a comprehensive national consensus and structural reforms in the Palestine Liberation Organization as lacking stability and continuity. Ultimately, it becomes clear that the Palestinian political system stands at a historical crossroads where externally imposed regional arrangements intertwine with positioning calculations and alliance building internally. The bet on technocratic committees as temporary solutions or the escape towards legislative elections governed by the struggle of political alignments without solid national consensus will represent nothing more than localized painkillers for a deeper structural legitimacy crisis. In light of these complexities, the real exit from the "next day" predicament remains contingent on the ability to formulate a unified Palestinian strategy that revives the Palestine Liberation Organization's charter and maintains the unity of Palestinian representation, balancing between the requirements of the international reality and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian street; otherwise, the scene is heading towards further institutional and geographical fragmentation that could undermine what remains of the pillars of the national project.
Editing / Taysir Qadi'h Introduction / Rawa' Al-Farra Montage and Sound Engineering / Shams Abu Al-Reesh General Supervision / Ghada Tabash Media and Digital Communication Unit Palestinian Smart Youth Parliament