NO:66/2019
Date: 24 oct 2019
During a briefing note … The International Commission (ICSPR) demands the issuance of a clear position expressing the illegality of the legislative dissolution and the transfer of deputies to retirement.
Occupied Palestine / Gaza: The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) confirmed that the decision to dissolve the Legislative Council and refer the deputies to retirement lacks objective and legal justifications, and means an escalation of the pace of measures that the Palestinian Executive Authority takes against the Palestinian legislative authority, and will inevitably lead to the deepening of the division Palestinian internal affairs, and suspending the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law.
During a briefing note addressed to the human rights advisor at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, today, Thursday, October 24, 2019, ICSPR demanded a speedy move to take early warning measures for the Palestinian Executive Authority of the consequences of continuing to implement its measures against the legislative authority, by issuing a clear position expressing the illegality of dissolving the Legislative Council and referring MPs to retirement.
ICSPR stated that this presidential decision to dissolve the Council was rejected by all the forces of Palestinian society, as it has no basis in the Basic Law, which does not permit the dissolution of the Legislative Council at all, even in a state of emergency (Article 113). It is a violation of the constitutional principles and values, in particular the principle of the rule of law, the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary as a basis for good governance, and it is a political and unconstitutional decision that constitutes a dangerous precedent for the dissolution of any upcoming legislative council.
In its letter, ICSPR emphasized that the insistence on dissolving the Legislative Council in this unconstitutional way, after it was disrupted by partisan disputes, also leads to perpetuating the concept of political corruption, and represents an attack on the most prominent pillars of the national integrity system and undermines efforts to combat corruption, especially the accountability tool.
In addition to the fact that the Constitutional Court’s decision was weak in terms of legal and logical reasoning, and did not present real facts on the allegations contained therein, and the Constitutional Court’s decision is completely inconsistent with the Constitutional Court’s decision No. (3) of 2016 which came in the second clause of its interpreted decision for the same article, (47) bis, the following: “2- Temporarily extending the term of the members of the Legislative Council whose term has expired until the new members of the Legislative Council take the constitutional oath.”
It is noteworthy that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued on December 22, 2018, a decision to dissolve the Legislative Council, based on a legal fatwa issued by the Palestinian Constitutional Court on 12/12/2018, in which the court said that the national interest requires the dissolution of the Legislative Council from the date of publishing its decision on the official gazette, and called on President Mahmoud Abbas to announce parliamentary elections within six months.
