JERUSALEM — Palestinianofficials said on Sunday that municipal elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and one Gaza city were a success and called them a step toward a long-delayed presidential election in the territories and eventual statehood.
Loyalists of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won most races, officials said on Sunday, in a vote that for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in the Gaza Strip run by rival Hamas.
Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers semiautonomous areas of the West Bank, has described Saturday’s local election in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah as a largely symbolic move asthe authority seeks to politically link the territories.
Saturday’s ballot marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Gaza war began more than two years ago with Hamas’ cross-border attack on southern Israel.
The elections, in which voter turnout was low, had been held “at a highly sensitive moment amid complex challenges and exceptional circumstances,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said as results were announced on Sunday.
But they represented “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life … and ultimately achieving the unity of the homeland,” he said.
Turnout in the West Bank elections was 56%, or over a half-million people, not dramatically different from elections there in recent years.
Many races were not contested, and candidates were required to accept the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which leads the Palestinian Authority. The program calls for the recognition of Israel and renouncing armed struggle, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.
Hamas, which ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the of victory Abbas’ Fatah party was widely expected.
But some candidates on one of the Deir al-Balah lists were widely seen by residents and analysts as aligned with the movement, making the vote a potential indicator of support for the Islamist group.
Preliminary results showed that the list, known as Deir al-Balah Brings Us Together, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir al-Balah list, backed by Fatah and the Western-backed PA, secured six seats. The remaining seats were won by two other Gaza-based groups, Future of Deir al-Balah and Peace and Building, which are not affiliated with either faction.
Abbas loyalists swept the election in the West Bank, running unchallenged in many seats.
Fatah spokesperson Abdul Fattah Dawla noted that turnout was close to that for the last municipal elections in the West Bank, in 2022, praising voters for participating despite ongoing violence by Israel.
“By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters appear to be seeking unrestricted international support for municipal governance and a gradual political shift that could extend beyond the local level,” said Palestinian political analyst Reham Ouda.
The recent war has left much of Gaza reduced to rubble, with many residents displaced and focused on survival. Israel has continued conducting strikes despite an October ceasefire.
In Gaza, voter turnout reached just 23%, while in the West Bank it was 56%, according to Central Elections Commission Chairman Rami al-Hamdallah.
“Everyone is aware of the political, security and economic conditions, the fragmentation of Palestinian territory, the war on Gaza, and the regional conflict in Iran,” Hamdallah, a former prime minister, told journalists.
“Simply holding the elections in Deir al-Balah is a significant achievement, and we hope to hold elections in other bodies across the Gaza Strip in the near future,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority has not held a presidential election in 21 years.
Al-Hamdallah said some of the ballot boxes and voting equipment did not make it into the enclave because of Israeli security restrictions, though those challenges were overcome.
Hamas’ Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, saying that they had no impact on wider national issues. — Agencies
Source: Saudi Gazette