Palestinian general election, 1996
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Note: On June 14, 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh's government, and appointed Fayyad to form an emergency government. However, Haniyeh and Hamas maintain that these actions were illegal, and that Haniyeh is still the Prime Minister; Haniyeh still exercises de facto authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fayyad's authority is limited de facto to the West Bank.
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On January 20, 1996, elections took place in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem for President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and for members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislative arm of the PNA.
The 1996 elections took place in a moment of optimism in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and many Palestinians believed that the government they were electing would be the first of an independent Palestinian state. However, in the ensuing months and years, Israelis and Palestinians failed to resolve their differences and come to a final status agreement, and an upswing in violence meant that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would continue. As a result of this instability, new presidential and legislative elections were not held until nearly a decade later.
There were no real strong conventional political parties in place before the election. The results were dominated by Fatah, the strongest movement within the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was headed by Yassir Arafat. The Islamist Hamas, Fatah's main rival and a group considered a terrorist organization by Israel and most Western governments, refused to participate in the election; they felt that doing so would lend legitimacy to the PNA, which was created out of what they called unacceptable negotiations and compromises with Israel. Independent international observers reported the elections to have been free and fair; however, boycotts by Hamas and opposition movements limited voter choices.
[edit] Presidential election
The president was elected by a simple popular vote. The results of the election were considered a foregone conclusion by most observers, due to Arafat's longtime dominance of the Palestinian political scene (he had been PNA president since its creation and head of the PLO for decades before that) and the high regard he was held in by most Palestinians; his only opponent was activist Samiha Khalil. Arafat won the election with 88.2 percent of the vote to Khalil's 11.5 percent.
[edit] Legislative election
The legislative election saw 88 PLC members elected from multi-member constituencies, with the number of representatives from each constituency determined by population. Some seats were set aside for the Christian and Samaritan communities. The results were as follows:
| Summary of the 20 January 1996 Palestinian Legislative Council election resultsedit | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatah or Liberation Movement of Palestine (Harakat al-Tahrâr al-Filistini) | . | 55 | |
| Independent Fatah | - | . | 7 |
| Independent Islamists | - | . | 4 |
| Independent Christians | - | . | 3 |
| Independents | - | . | 15 |
| Samaritans | - | . | 1 |
| Others | - | . | 1 |
| vacant | - | - | 2 |
| Total (turnout %) | 88 | ||
| Source: Keesings Historisch Archief | |||
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