Arafat’s Handling Of Election Comes Under Fire

International observers criticized Yasser Arafat on Monday for violating election laws, including shortening the campaign period to only two weeks before Palestinians go to the polls Jan 20.

Carl Lidbom, head of the 300-member European Union observer group, said the unexplained changes threaten the credibility of the elections, both in the eyes of Palestinians and the international community.

In a sharply worded statement, Lidbom said shortening the campaign period from 22 days to 14 days has made it harder for independent candidates and opposition parties. He also said the PLO leader had violated election laws by altering the number of seats in the National Council.

“This is a warning but not a condemnation,” Lidbom said in an interview. “This warning is so that there will be no more changes in the election law or regulations. It’s enough.”

More than 700 candidates are now registered to run for the 88 seats in the National Council, a self-rule body that will have the powers of a legislature as well as an executive body. The number of seats was originally fixed at 82.

Lidbom’s statement said Arafat distributed the extra seats in the Gaza Strip, where Arafat has his headquarters, even though the West Bank has a larger population. Lidbom said such changes should have been made by the Central Election Committee, not Arafat, himself a candidate in the election.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, secretary-general of the Central Election Commission, said pressure to hold the elections on schedule was partly responsible for the “abnormal situation.”

He said the change in the number of seats came late because Israel only approved the request two days ago. He said Arafat then extended the deadline for registration in hopes that members of the opposition Hamas movement would register.

“These changes had to come at the expense of the campaign period,” Shtayyeh said. “It’s in the national interest to have Hamas on board. We have to weigh between stretching the period of campaign and having Hamas on board.”

Although Hamas is boycotting the elections and has said it will not participate as a political party, four activists from the Islamic movement registered Sunday to run as independents.

The campaign, set to start on Dec. 31, is now expected to officially kick off on Jan. 5.