Palestinian municipal elections, 2005

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Palestinian National Authority
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Palestinian National Authority

Constitution President Mahmoud Abbas Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (emergency rule) / Ismail Haniyeh (see note) Present government Legislative Council Speaker Abdel Aziz Duwaik Current members Political parties Elections President: 1996, 2005, next Legislative: 1996, 2006, next Governorates Electoral Districts Foreign relations Foreign Minister Fatah-Hamas conflict Israeli-Palestinian conflict Oslo Accords Proposed State of Palestine 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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Municipal elections were held to elect members of local councils in the Palestinian Territories between December 2004 and December 2005. They were the first local elections held in Palestinian areas in almost thirty years.

The elections were approved by President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat, before his death on November 11, 2004 and were administered by the Higher Committee for Local Elections (HCLE), a body established under the authority of the Ministry for Local Government, an institution of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The first round of elections was held in two parts; the first part on December 23, 2004 in 26 districts in the West Bank and the second on January 27, 2005 in 10 districts in the Gaza Strip.

The second round of Palestinian elections for local councils was held on May 5, 2005 in the West Bank (76 districts) and Gaza (8 districts)and on May 19, 2005 in the West Bank district of Al-Ram.

The third round, (September 29, 2005) and the fourth round (December 15, 2005) were to elect local councils in districts 104 and 44 respectively, but in some districts elections were canceled.

The fifth round never happened because of the situation in Palestinian Territories after formation of Hamas-led government. Approximately 25% of Palestinians live in districts that did not have elections.

In the first two rounds, council members were elected by Bloc voting election system, and the third and fourth by Party-list proportional representation

Turn out was quite high. Over all, the local election showed Hamas relative strength and preparedness to deal with the block voting election system. One other side, it showed weakness and disorganization of Fatah and inability to understand the consequences of the voting system.