Al-Hayyat Center for Civil Society Development in partnership with AMAN is in the process of implementing a campaign entitled “Muwatanati Fi Musharakati”. The campaign aims at raising public awareness on the importance of participating in the upcoming local elections and its relationship to social accountability. It also aims at encouraging citizens to report violations to official parties when and if it occurs.
Activities for the campaign include an awareness raising training for media and law students from Al-Najah University. Also, radio spots and other related messages will be broadcasted on a local radio station, in addition to utilizing social media sources to circulate leaflets on the importance of elections and its positive impact on society. In addition, awareness raising methods will be used on social media users, since they are many and social media is considered the better and stronger alternative to traditional media methods. The awareness raising will be to familiarize users with the Local Elections Law and related Code of Conduct for political parties, factions, and electoral lists, as well as to the objectives of the campaign.
Kayed Tanbour, the campaign coordinator, emphasized the importance of holding elections periodically, since it is an important method of accountability and a powerful popular tool to hold local councils accountable.
Once these activities are over, a well informed team from law and media students will be formed to monitor the local elections with the aim of ensuring transparency and integrity on the electoral process.