At stake in this election:

• 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Mahmoud ABBAS
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Ahmed QUREI
• Assembly: Palestine has a unicameral Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) with 132 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 4-year term.
• In the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), 66 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 66 members are elected by relative majority vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** The size of the PLC increases with this election from 88 to 132 seats.
This mixed electoral system was adopted on June 18, 2005. In the last election held in 1996, all members of the PLC were elected by simple majority on a multi-member constituency basis.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Change and Reform*
  • Leader: Ismael Abdel Slam Ahmad HANIEYA
  • Seats won in this election: 74
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Fatah Movement
  • Leader: Mahmoud ABBAS
  • Seats won in this election: 45
  • Seats won in last election: 68
• Party: Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa
  • Leader: Ahmad Sa'dat Yousif ABDEL RASOUL
  • Seats won in this election: 3
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Coalition: The Alternative****
  • Leader: Qais Kamal Abdul Karim KHADIR
  • Seats won in this election: 2
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Independent Palestine
  • Leader: Mustafa Kamel Mustafa BARGHOUTHI
  • Seats won in this election: 2
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: The Third Way
  • Leader: Salam Khaled Abdullah FAYYAD
  • Seats won in this election: 2
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Freedom and Social Justice
  • Leader: Ahmad Abdel Salam Hasan MAJDALANY
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Freedom and Independence
  • Leader: Salim Ali Mohammad ALBREDENY
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Martyr Abu al-Abbas
  • Leader: Omar Ahmed Mahmoud SHIBLY
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: National Coalition for Justice and Democracy / Wa'ad
  • Leader: Eyad Rajab Ahmad ELSARRAJ
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: The Palestinian Justice
  • Leader: Samir Sadiq Abdel Rahman QADRI
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Independents
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 4
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

* The main component on the Change and Reform list is the Islamist Hamas Movement, which is contesting parliamentary elections for the first time.
**** The Alternative is a Coalition of the Democratic Front, People's party, Fida and Independents. In the last election, Fida secured one seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last parliamentary election for the Legislative Council was held on January 20, 1996.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,761,904 (July 2005 est. - combination of Gaza and West Bank figures)
• Registered Voters: 1,341,671 (August 2005 - combination of Gaza and West Bank figures)