The Election Section, Part 2 (‘Ray Von, as in Rave On!’)

Alright folks, more election coverage than you can shake a stick at...

Well yesterday was the big day. What I didn't realize was that the whole of Palestine gets a public holiday on election day. So pretty much everything was closed, except for a few private businesses. There were a few cars and trucks driving round with flags and posters plastered to the side, but not nearly as many as in previous days.

After going for a bit of a walk and taking some snaps of election posters, I dropped by T's supermarket. He was on his way to vote, and invited me along, so off we went to a local school, which had become an election station for the day. Despite T. being quite cynical about politics and politicians (he declared earlier in the week he wouldn't be voting) he was obviously doing his bit for the cause, which in his case was the PLFP. The entrance to the school bore a resemblance to the areas around checkpoints where all the cars and services park, (i.e. a little bit of chaos, which turns out to be very well organized in its own way).

At the entrance to the school compound various party supports (all of whom seemed too young to vote) were thrusting their party's card into people's hands, while being watched by a small group of PA soldiers. Even though T. knew who he was voting for, he seemed to collect most of the cards on offer anyway.

Since political parties weren't allowed on the voting premises, once inside the compound, it was fairly quiet. It also seemed that the efforts to thrust cards into peoples hands were some what in vain, since no party promotional material was actually allowed in the school building, unless it was stowed away. A few policemen were stationed at the entrance to enforce this rule. There were also long lists of names at the entrance, with a designated classroom where each individual had to vote. I think there were at least four classrooms being used, although I didn't count carefully. T. was assigned to room 2, at whose entrance an election official sat at a desk with a list of names of people who should be voting in that particular room. After searching for his ID, T. got himself crossed off that list, but then decided he had to rush outside to remind himself which candidate he was voting for (by looking at their promotional material).

The voting system here seemed fairly complicated in that everyone got to cast two ballots (both for the same election). The first ballot contained a list of parties, and you were allowed to vote for one. The second ballot contained a list of individual names, each of whom were assigned a number, and you could vote for up to five individuals. While most of these individuals are members of political parties, their party affiliation wasn't listed on the ballot. You therefore had to remember the name and/or the number of the candidate you wanted to vote for. The idea is that this system prevented people just ticking the names of the candidates who belong to such and such a party. Maybe the system was designed to help independent candidates, but the only likely outcome was that it ensured some people voted for individuals they didn't want to by mistake, although whether this in fact benefited anyone remains to be seen. 50% of parliamentary members were elected through the first ballot using a system of proportional representation and 50% were elected through the second method using a first past the post system for each district. The second method thus ensures regional representation, while the first method ensures that the big parties (and even some of the not so big parties) could almost guarantee the election of party stalwarts. (This was the biggest bone of contention within Fatah, who put the 'old guard'; at the top of their PR list).

Returning to the school once again, T., now having memorized which people he was voting for, entered room 2. Along one side were a row of desks behind which election officials sat, while at right angles to them were a row of chairs where designated representatives from each party sat, observing fair play. At the back of the room were two polling booths, and in the centre, where everyone could see it, were the two ballot boxes, also being looked after by an election official. T. first had to show his ID card to the first election official before moving on to a second official who was in charge of finger inking. To ensure people weren't voting in two places, finger prints were taken from each voter. T., who didn't want to get his finger too dirty, kept trying to dip his finger in the pot quickly, but kept failing to get any ink on his finger at all. Finally he took the plunge, and then moved on to a third official who gave him his two ballots, while explaining how to vote. He then went to the booth, ticked the requisite boxes, and posted his ballots. After a quick return trip to the booth to reclaim his ID which he'd left there, that was that and off we went.

I've no idea if everything was as well organized all over the country. I read on al-jazeera that there had been a shooting in Nablus, and that most Jerusalemites wouldn't be able to vote in Jerusalem.