The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) held training workshops on Political Participation, Election Laws, and the Mechanism for Supervision. This came within the project Your Voice is Your Right to promote the right to political participation of different sectors of society. Their political participation begins by raising their awareness regarding the Principles of democracy through participation in the upcoming elections.
Dozens of civil society organization representatives in the Gaza Strip participated in the training workshop to undergo 24 training hours over four days. The training will definitely take into account precautionary measures to prevent the Covid-19 virus by guaranteeing physical distancing and ongoing sanitization.
Both Dr. Youssef Awadallah, Central Elections Committee member, and Mr. Jamil Al-Khalidi, Central Elections Committee regional director, opened the workshop alongside PNGO director, Amjad Al-Shawa.
In his speech, Al-Shawa stressed that holding elections is an essential prerequisite for civil society organizations that follow the various evolving stages of the elections closely.
An entire generation did not participate in the elections, which created a thirst for political participation, he added, as the registration rate in the electoral register reached 93 percent.
The purpose of these workshops is to move towards society in all its sectors to educate and encourage them to participate in the elections, Al-Shawa expressed.
He called on civil organizations to put forward innovative ideas to support and monitor the electoral process as well as to mobilize it without pressuring publicity and to have a clear stand concerning the elections’ candidate lists.
For his part, Mr. Jamil Al-Khalidi, Central Elections Committee Regional Director, affirmed that participation in the elections is the right of every citizen and that holding elections is a good opportunity to respect and return to democracy.
Al-Khalidi praised the role of civil organizations, headed by PNGO, regarding the success of the electoral process, conveying information to all concerned parties and educating the public about the stages of the electoral process.
He also pointed out the importance of the role of civil organizations in monitoring the integrity of the electoral process in light of the challenges, represented by the COVID-19 pandemic, used by the Israeli occupation authorities to prevent international observers from participating in monitoring elections. Fortunately, civil society organizations played a prominent role in maintaining the integrity of the electoral process.
Al-Khalidi also called for creating a positive atmosphere and environment in order to reach success on polling day.
Moreover, the training workshop addressed several topics, including the importance of political participation, the Palestinian election laws, the mechanism for raising awareness, and the role of community and institutional awareness and digital awareness in the success of the electoral process.
Finally, it is noteworthy to mention that the Your Voice is Your Right project directs its efforts towards creating correct political participation within different society sectors by raising awareness regarding the upcoming elections.
In the same context, it also focuses on enhancing the role of civil society organizations in teaching the people about the importance of participating in elections while shedding light on the most marginalized and vulnerable groups of women and persons with disabilities.
Your Voice is Your Right project is implemented in partnership with the Central Elections Commission and funded by the European Union.