Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza went to the polls today to vote in local elections for mayors and municipal councils, the first since the start of the war in Gaza.
The process is taking place in an atmosphere of widespread frustration and limited choice. About 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the occupied West Bank, while about 70,000 in the Deir el-Balah area of Gaza, according to the Central Election Commission in Ramallah. Most of the lists are affiliated with Fatah, the secular nationalist party of President Mahmoud Abbas, or are independent, while no list is affiliated with Hamas, which controls large parts of Gaza and is responsible for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the recent war. Residents express considerable skepticism.
A Tulkarm resident said he would vote “without illusions,” stressing that neither independent nor party candidates would change the reality of the city, which is still under the control of the Israeli occupation. In some major cities, such as Nablus and Ramallah, only one list of candidates is running, limiting the elections in practice. Polling stations will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the West Bank, while in Deir el-Balah voting will end earlier due to a power outage.
The United Nations has welcomed the holding of these elections, describing them as an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise their democratic rights at a difficult time. In Gaza, which has been under Hamas control since 2007, these are the first elections since the parliamentary elections of 2006. Analysts consider the elections in Deir el-Balah as an “experiment” to test the possibility of wider elections in the future.
President Mahmoud Abbas has been in power since 2005, while promises of presidential and parliamentary elections have not been fulfilled.
