Ramallah, March 21 The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (PCEC) has started receiving nomination applications for the upcoming legislative election.
In a statement, the PCEC said it started receiving applications from Saturday and it will continue until March 31, reports Xinhua news agency.
It said electoral lists have been asked to submit the names of their candidates to the commission's headquarters in Ramallah and Gaza.
Only electoral lists of candidates, not individuals, will be accepted, as stipulated in the recently-amended elections law, and an electoral list should have no less than 16 names of candidates and no more than 132, which is the number of seats of the unicameral Palestinian Legislative Council, according to the statement.
"Each nomination request will be studied within five days to make sure that the electoral list meets the legal terms of candidacy. After that, the PCEC will decide whether the electoral list is approved or not," it said.
In January, President Mahmoud Abbas announced the 2021 general elections will include the legislative elections on May 22, the presidential elections on July 31, and the elections of the Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on August 31.
The last Palestinian presidential elections were held in March 2005, and the legislative elections in January 2006.
The internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007 when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah.
Since then, the Palestinian territories have been split into a Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and a Fatah-dominated West Bank.
( With inputs from IANS )
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