EU to send more observers for Palestinian vote
AFP
Date: 12-31-05
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - The European Union has announced that a team of election observers is to begin on Monday the process of supervising Palestinian legislative elections.
Thirty-two "long-term observers" from 22 EU countries are to be deployed January 2 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip's main cities, the mission said.
Another 136 "short-term" observers will arrive shortly before the election itself on January 25.
The first group of 13 European experts who were charged with preparatory duties arrived on December 12 and set up offices in Ramallah, Jerusalem and in the Gaza Strip.
The European parliament also plans to send a delegation of 50 observers so there will be a total of 231 European observers for the poll.
The United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and Israel have expressed concern over the vote, in which the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas is to stand for the first time.
Hamas, which advocates the destruction of Israel, scored a resounding victory in local elections in the main West Bank cities this month in what was one of the clearest indicators of the movement's strength ahead of next month's parliamentary contest.
The observers are to monitor the entire electoral process -- including legal, political and preparative elements as well as the vote-counting -- and are to issue a preliminary report shortly after the vote is held.
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