Progress Amid Resistance

394 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAcupied Pales tinian Territories,” UNDP, http://www.pogar.org/countries/theme.aspx?t=3&cid=14.87To win representation via the party list system, a party needed to win more than 2percent of the national vote. Meanwhile, the seats in each multimember district wentto the top vote-earners in that constituency. If a district’s population meant that itwas allocated six seats, for example, the six top vote earners in that district wouldwin. See European Union Electoral Observation Mission, West Bank and Gaza Strip:Palestinian Legislative Council Elections (Brussels: European Union, 2006), 35–36,http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/election_observation/westbank/legislative/final_report_en.pdf.88European Union Electoral Observation Mission, West Bank and Gaza Strip: PalestinianLegislative Council Elections, 37.89Arab Election Watch, “Palestine and the Amendment of the Electoral Law to Introducethe Principle of Full Proportionate Representation,” October 24, 2007, http://www.intekhabat.org/look/en-article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=1&NrArticle=3884&NrIssue=2&NrSection=3.90Presidential Decree (September 2, 2007), Article 4(1), http://www.elections.ps/pdf/Election_Law_(2007-Sept_02)-EN.pdf.91Women’s Campaign International, Preliminary Program Ideas Report: Palestine (Philadelphia:Women’s Campaign International, 2008), http://www.womenscampaigninternational.org/wp-content/uploads-wci/2008/11/palestine-assessment-report-2006.pdf.92These are Lamis Alami for education, Siham Barghouti for culture, Khuloud Deibes fortourism, Rabha Diab for women’s affairs, and Majida al-Masri for social affairs.93These are Zahira Kamal, Maryam Saleh, Amal Siam, and Khulud Deibes.94Eileen Kuttab, Social and Economic Situation of Palestinian Women, 19.95Atef Saad, “Municipal Elections Stir Democratic Bones,” Palestine Report 11, no. 26(December 2004), http://www.palestinereport.ps/article.php?article=614.96National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Report on PalestinianElections for Local Councils: Round One (Washington, DC: NDI, 2005), 19, http://www.ndi.org/files/1816_palestinianelectionreportrd1_033105.pdf..97NDI, Report on Palestinian Elections for Local Councils: Round Two (Washington, DC:NDI, 2005), 5, http://www.ndi.org/files/1913_wegz_localcouncil_092905.pdf.98Local Councils Electoral Law (No. 10 of 2005), http://www.elections.ps/pdf/lOCAL_ELECTIONS_LAW-EDIT-EN.pdf. The first two rounds of voting were carried outunder the rules established prior to this law, while the next two were carried out underthe new law; see Central Elections Commission—Palestine, “Electoral System—LocalElections,” http://www.elections.ps/template.aspx?id=333.99For the results in detail, see Central Elections Commission—Palestine, “Local Elections:Statistics and Results,” http://www.elections.ps/template.aspx?id=351&sndx=5.100See the Birzeit University Institute of Law database at http://muqtafi2.birzeit.edu/en/Legislation/LegCard.aspx?id=6196.101See for example Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), “Israeli OccupationForces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks Against Palestinian Civilians and Propertyin the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and a Serious Humanitarian Crisis in