Student Council Elections Conducted

Fatah Wins – Highest Margin of Victory in Ten Years

4 May 2006, Bethlehem University, Bethlehem, Palestine.

The campaigning among the students of Bethlehem University for elections to the Student Council for the 2006-2007 academic year came to a close with Election Day on 3 May 2006. While classes continued at the University, over 84% of the students eligible to vote participated in this long-time honored democratic exercise.

The student Fatah Party took a majority of 16 seats out of a total of 31 seats designated to the Student Council. This represents an increase of 2 seats for Fatah from last year’s elections and allow Fatah to form the Student Council without having to form a coalition with the other parties, an achievement considered to be their best outcome in ten years.

The remainder of the seats were won by the Islamic party (Hamas) with 8 seats (one seat less than last year’s elections); a coalition of three parties (Democrats, People’s Party and the Popular Front Party) under the name of “Watan” took 7 seats (comparable to last year’s results); and the forth party, Al-Jama’a Al-Islamiah which is the Islamic Jihad Party not taking any seats in the student elections (which is a loss of the one seat they had in last year’s elections).

The voting booths were opened from 8:30am until 4:30pm to allow the students tie to vote between their classes. There was an atmosphere of excitement and activity on campus for the day as the students cast their votes for the Student Council representatives for the upcoming academic year. According to the normal process of previous years, the elections were conducted under the supervision of the University’s Election Committee comprised of faculty, staff and students and a representative from Ramallah of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education,. This democratic process was open and transparent, and conducted in a calm and professional manner.

The polls closed at 4:30 p.m. and the results were made public at 6:15 p.m.

The students at Bethlehem University along with their counterparts from the other universities in Palestine celebrated the election process and outcomes. There were Palestinian flags and pictures of the late President Yaser Arafat and the current President Mahmoud Abbas waving through the streets of Bethlehem and the neighboring cities into the evening hours.

The Bethlehem University administration is proud of the integrity and the transparency of the elections process and looks forward to working with the newly elected Student Council in the next academic year.