The European Union Election Observation Mission for the Presidential elections in West Bank and Gaza has begun work in December 10, 2004. In total, the EU is deploying more than 260 observers. This includes the EU Election Observation Mission with a core team of 13 staff, some 40 long-term observers, arriving around 15 December, and more than 130 short-term observers, arriving in early January. The total also comprises an observation delegation from the European Parliament made up of 30 Members of Parliament plus 16 assistants, and contributions from the governments of Switzerland, Norway and Canada.

In line with the principles of the Quartet Roadmap, the European Commission has been in the lead in the international community in providing support to the Palestinian electoral process since 2003. The overall objective is to give the Palestinian society a chance to hold meaningful and credible elections to provide democratic legitimacy for the institutions on the road to statehood. Some €14 million have been allocated since 2003 to prepare the elections. Of this, €2.5 million has been designated for the EU Election Observation.

7 thousands observers are supposed to supervise the election.