PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

(PLC)

   Chapter 1 of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II) of 28 September 1995 stipulated the conditions for electing a PLC and the powers and responsibilities of this body. In accordance with the agreed provisions of the Oslo II Agreement, Palestinian residents of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem elected their first PLC on 20 January 1996.In a simultaneous vote, Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat was elected Ra'ees (president) of the PLC's executive authority. Arafat subsequently appointed a committee from the PLC to serve as the executive authority. The PLC was formally installed on 7 March 1996, with its first working session beginning on 21 March 1996. On 9 January 2005, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was elected as the second president of the Palestinian Authority, succeeding Arafat, who had died on 11 November 2004. On 25 January 2006, Hamas (represented by the Change and Reform Party) for the first time won the majority of seats in the PLC, taking 74 seats in the 132-seat legislature (and 44.5 percent of the popular vote) compared to 45 seats (41.4 percent) for Fatah. A Hamas-dominated government was subsequently formed under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.