Observer says election shows Palestinians serious about democracy
By JANICE ARNOLD
Thursday, 20 January 2005
Jim Torczyner, left, and his fellow Palestinian election observer from Poland, Darius
Rasinski, with their translator.
The general orderliness and seriousness with which the Palestinian presidential election
was conducted has left one official Canadian observer optimistic that most Palestinians
are committed to the path of democracy.
Jim Torczyner, director of the McGill Middle East program in civil society and peace
building (MMEP), was one of 20 Canadian observers to the Jan. 9 vote, which was a
decisive victory for Mahmoud Abbas.
“This election was not really about Abbas or [his chief opponent] Mustafa Barghouti; it
was about those who believe in voting and rejecting violence, and those who were
opposed to achieving their aspiration democratically.
“To me this was about the Palestinians affirming and acting on their rights in the best
tradition of the [U.S.] civil rights movement, where I started my work.”
Torczyner, who was assigned to the Ramallah/Al-Bireh area and 18 villages to the north
in the mountains, witnessed only one minor incident: a representative of one of the
candidates becoming a “bit too enthusiastic too close to the polls.”
Each candidate was entitled to have an observer at each of the stations.
Torczyner was also called on to check a report that the Israel army was inhibiting the
movement of voters at a checkpoint at the Attara Bridge.
Torczyner found two soldiers and an armoured vehicle. He saw them stop one car and ask
questions, but they did not impede anyone from going to the polls. He spoke to soldiers in
Hebrew and learned they were looking for someone but had no intention of interfering.
As it turned out, no formal complaint was lodged.
Canada sent four “long-term” observers, who were on duty from Dec. 15 to Jan. 27, and
16 short-term observers, including Torczyner, who served from Jan. 4 to 13.
Torczyner, a social work professor, estimates he has been to the Palestinian territories at
least 100 times and spends a good deal of time at the MMEP’s community service centres
in Nablus and east Jerusalem.
The Canadian observers worked under the European Union delegation of about 250. To
his knowledge, Torczyner was the only Jew in the combined group. They spent two days
in Jerusalem for training, mainly on the historical background. Torczyner, although on
the left politically, was disturbed by one Arab academic who gave an “extremely biased”
picture of the conflict. No Israelis spoke. Other than that, Torczyner feels the EU handled
its responsibilities impartially.
Torczyner was part of an eight-member unit, the others all European, including an Irish
teacher, a Czech NGO worker and a Portuguese waitress. His partner was Darius
Rasinski, a retired Polish naval officer, now a toy importer. Together, they covered their
territory by car with a driver and translator.
They were deployed two days before the election, and checked on all the polling stations,
met the staff and candidates’ representatives, and made sure the ballots were delivered
and safeguarded. Torczyner found it significant that most of the stations were in schools,
and that the heads of the elections were principals and the staff largely teachers. The
Palestinians have a high regard for education and this lent legitimacy to the election
process, he thinks.
Torczyner was amazed that two police officers stayed overnight at the schools to protect
the ballots and other sensitive material.
“Everything was done very, very carefully and respectfully. There is no question in my
mind of the transparency and dedication to the rules throughout the process,” he said.
On election day, Torczyner was on duty from 5:30 a.m. until 2 the next morning.
There were some touching scenes, such as two teachers going out to get a 90-year-old
woman who uses a wheelchair and wanted to vote for the first time in her life.
There was a some confusion when a decision was made to extend the voting time by two
hours because some people found they were not on the voters’ list. They were then able
to register at a special station. Torczyner believes this was the right thing to do because
the list had not been updated since the last election in 1996.
“It didn’t affect the election, and it allowed even more to vote,” he said. The final turnout
was 68 per cent.
The observers then witnessed the counting of the ballots at the stations, waited for the
boxes to be picked up, followed their delivery to a central location and watched a second
counting.
Torczyner believes there are now two democracies in the Middle East and this should
draw Israel and the Palestinians closer together.
“Abbas and Ariel Sharon now have a similar dilemma. The majority of their people back
the rule of law, but most deal with significant elements who do not, often out of religious
conviction.”
Abbas, he further believes, has clearly rejected violence, but he must now “deliver” if the
Palestinians are to remain committed to democracy, he thinks. And that violence has to
be reduced, if Sharon is to succeed in dealing with opponents of Israel’s withdrawal from
Gaza, he added.