Voting in Deir al-Balah, Photo: Reuters
Loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas won the majority of seats in Palestinian municipal elections, election officials announced today, in a vote that for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in the Gaza Strip, which is run by rival Hamas.
Saturday’s vote marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian elections since the Gaza war began more than two years ago, following Hamas’s assault on southern Israel.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) from the West Bank, led by Abbas, announced that the inclusion of the city of Deir al-Balah in Gaza, which suffered less damage than other parts of the coastal territory during the war, was intended to show that Gaza is an inseparable part of the future Palestinian state, Reuters reported.
The elections, in which the turnout was low, were held “at a very sensitive moment, amid complex challenges and exceptional circumstances”, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said today.
However, they represent “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life… and, finally, achieving the unity of the homeland,” he said.
Hamas, which ousted the PA in Gaza in 2007, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Fatah victory was widely expected.
However, some candidates on one of the lists in Deir al-Balah are widely seen by residents and analysts as close to the movement, making the vote a possible indication of support for the Islamist group, according to Reuters.
Preliminary results showed that the list “Deir al-Balah brings us together” won only two of the 15 mandates that were decided in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir al-Balah list, backed by Abbas’s Fatah and the Western-backed PU, won six seats. The remaining seats went to two other groups from Gaza – “The Future of Deir al-Balah” and “Peace and Construction”, which are not affiliated with either of the two factions.
Abbas loyalists convincingly won the elections in the West Bank, where they were unopposed for many seats.
Fatah spokesman Abdul Fattah Daula said the turnout was close to that of the last local elections in the West Bank in 2022, praising voters for participating despite ongoing Israeli violence.
“By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters seem to be seeking to secure unlimited international support for municipal governance and a gradual political turnaround that could go beyond the local level,” said Palestinian political analyst Reham Uda.
The recent war has left much of Gaza in ruins, with many residents displaced and focused on mere survival. Israel continued to carry out attacks despite the October ceasefire.
In Gaza, voter turnout was only 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent, according to the president of the Central Election Commission, Rami al-Hamdala.
Al-Hamdale said some of the ballot boxes and voting equipment did not reach the enclave due to Israeli security restrictions, although those challenges were eventually overcome.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the election results, saying they had no bearing on broader national issues.
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