Palestinians lined up outside polling stations set up in tents and donated buildings today to vote in the first elections held in part of Gaza in more than two decades, as local races across the West Bank and the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah test public trust in a broader system facing mounting challenges.
More than 70,000 people are eligible to vote for municipal government in Deir al-Balah, a central Gaza city that has been damaged by airstrikes but was spared an Israeli ground invasion. The single-city vote is a largely symbolic “pilot,” election officials say, part of an effort to politically link Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Palestinians see both as integral to any future path to statehood.
Voters spoke about the near-total absence of public services and said the devastation in Gaza compelled them to participate.
“I came to vote because I have a right to elect members to the municipal council so they can provide us with services,” Ashraf Abu Dan said outside his Deir al-Balah polling place.
In the West Bank and Deir al-Balah, voting will determine the makeup of local councils tasked with overseeing water, roads and electricity. Turnout may reflect the level of public trust in a leadership system led by aging figures in the West Bank, as Gaza prepares for an anticipated transition from Hamas rule.
Mixed turnout on voting day
Some polling places in the West Bank and Deir al-Balah were busy on Saturday, though others appeared emptier. Election officials reported 24.5 percent turnout as of 1 pm.
Voters who turned out said they wanted a say over decision-making in their cities.
“Municipal laws need to be enforced so people feel there’s justice,” Khalid al-Qawasmeh, a voter in the West Bank city of Beitunia, said outside his polling place. His finger was inked blue to mark having voted.
Linking West Bank and Gaza politically
Though the Palestinian Authority has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006, it promoted the local races after reforms it enacted last year in response to demands from international backers.
Under the slogan “We Stay,” the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission campaigned to encourage participation and reflect how Palestinians living amid war and occupation want a say in how they are governed.
“We’re talking about geographically linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said Rami Hamdallah, the commission’s chairman.
With Gaza mostly decimated after more than two years of war, the commission chose to hold its first vote in Deir al-Balah but had to improvise because it was unable to conduct traditional voter registration.
Hamdallah said Israel blocked the entry of materials like ballot paper, ballot boxes or ink into Gaza. The commission repurposed material instead, using wooden ballot boxes and blue ink leftover from a vaccination drive last year.
The commission said it did not coordinate directly with either Israel or Hamas ahead of the vote. COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to questions about blocking materials.
Though Palestinian voter turnout has gradually decreased, it has been relatively high in past local elections by regional standards, averaging between 50 and 60 percent. By comparison, turnout in recent local elections in Lebanon and Tunisia was under 40 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
Thin candidate pool
Ninety-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree last year reforming elections in line with some demands of Western donors, including allowing voting for individuals rather than slates.
In January, another Abbas decree required candidates to accept the programme of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the group that leads the Palestinian Authority. The programme calls for the recognition of Israel and renouncing armed struggle, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.
Campaign posters have been plastered across cities, though many — including Ramallah and Nablus — do not have contested elections.
Slates in major cities are dominated by Fatah, the faction that leads the Palestinian Authority, and independents, some with ties to other factions. However, it is the first time in six local elections that no faction besides Fatah has put forward its own slate — an absence that analysts say reflects political disillusionment under Abbas and the authority’s aging leadership.
Criticism from voters
In Qalqilya, a city where no slates registered to participate at all, voter Marwan Ennabi said elections did not reflect that Palestinian democracy was thriving. He said he expected more of the same from officials regardless of what happens in any city. The Palestinian Authority will appoint councils in cities without contested races.
“This isn’t transparency,” he said. “This is chaos, chaos, chaos!”
What local elections mean now
The Palestinian Authority’s power has withered amid years without peace negotiations and Israel tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank. But it sees local elections as a low-risk way to demonstrate progress on reforms, said Aref Jaffal, director of the al-Marsad Arab World Democracy and Electoral Monitor.
“The PA wants to show it is on the right track on political, financial and administrative reforms, and is using local elections as a symbol of that,” he said.
With the authority incapable of addressing hundreds of new military gates and settler outposts constricting movement in the West Bank, Jaffal said councils have taken on greater importance, overseeing local health centres and schools that residents once accessed elsewhere.
Deir al-Balah: Gaza’s first election since 2006
Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority a year later. It did not put forward candidates on Saturday.
Hamas controls the half of Gaza that Israel withdrew from last year, including Deir al-Balah, but the coastal enclave is preparing to transition to a new governance structure under a 20-point international plan that established a Board of Peace and a committee of unelected Palestinian experts. Progress toward further phases, including disarming Hamas, reconstruction and transferring power, remains stalled.
Though elections in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem are regular points of contention between Israel and Palestinian leaders, the Oslo Accords did not include provisions about holding local races there.
