West Bank University Elections

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

It is a fine thing that some of our universities breathe in electoral competition, and that their grounds witness varied debates and activities to win over votes. Birzeit University was previously alone in insisting on an electoral atmosphere within its campus, and now other universities are entering the arena. This electoral atmosphere ought to spread to the rest of the universities and to the various Palestinian locations, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Democratic and electoral debate will bring us all safely to shore, but hurling accusations from a distance will only take us to the bottom of the sea.

My main observation on the election results is that the electoral balance of power has not changed fundamentally, and that Hamas won large numbers of votes despite the pressure it has faced over the years. It is true that Fatah won more seats than Hamas, but what Hamas won indicates that its strength has been shaken only slightly. Hamas has been affected by the climate of persecution it has faced over the years, but the effect remains limited, and could easily be overcome should the democratic conditions in the West Bank change. My assessment is that the same applies to Fatah, should conditions change in the Gaza Strip.

The second observation is that the Palestinian left needs to rethink its condition.

The third observation is that non-student elements were present inside some universities on election day, and this is not permissible.

The fourth observation is that weapons were present outside the walls of the universities. Some claimed that weapons entered the universities, but I found no documentation of that. There was no justification whatsoever for the presence of armed men around the university, nor for security-style harassment of candidates by telephone.

The university elections were held in a largely democratic atmosphere within the universities themselves, but the problem is that the broader democratic environment, which ought to serve as a general incubator, is not available, and this affects the freedom to cast one’s vote. That is, the elections took place within a limited, localized democracy, not within a genuinely free democratic environment.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “انتخابات جامعات الضفة الغربية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.