DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians voted on Saturday in the first elections held in part of Gaza in more than two decades, while tens of thousands of Palestinians cast ballots in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The vote in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah was a largely symbolic “pilot” election, officials said, part of the Palestinian Authority’s effort to politically link Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, unpopular in the West Bank and frozen out of U.S.-led postwar plans for ending Hamas rule in Gaza, hopes to establish an independent state in both territories.
Hamas did not field candidates in Deir al-Balah, which was damaged by airstrikes but spared an Israeli ground invasion in more than two years of war. More than 70,000 people were eligible to vote for the municipal government.
Though turnout was low, voters said they were driven to the polls amid a near-total absence of public services. There and throughout the West Bank, voting determines the makeup of local councils tasked with overseeing water, roads and electricity.
“I came to vote because I have a right to elect members to municipal council so they can provide us with services,” said Ashraf Abu Dan in Deir al-Balah.
The West Bank turnout was near the level of previous local elections, surprising observers who expected that a low participation rate would signal apathy and eroded faith in elected office. Election officials reported a preliminary 53.4% overall turnout after polls closed and 22.7% in Deir al-Balah.
Results in individual races are expected on Sunday.
Voters said they wanted a say over local decision-making.
“Municipal laws need to be enforced so people feel there’s justice,” said Khalid al-Qawasmeh, a voter in the West Bank city of Beitunia.
Linking the West Bank and Gaza politically
The Palestinian Authority, which was formed as part of interim peace accords in the 1990s, is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people. It administers semi-autonomous areas of the West Bank but was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2006.
The authority’s popularity has been weakened by corruption and autocratic rule, its failure to establish an independent state while Israel expands West Bank settlements, and divisions with Hamas. Abbas, 90, was elected to what was supposed to be a four-year term in 2005.
Though it has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006, the Palestinian Authority promoted the local races after reforms it enacted last year in response to demands from international backers.
“We’re talking about geographically linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said Rami Hamdallah, chair of the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission and a former prime minister.
With Gaza mostly decimated by 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 and ink into Gaza. The commission repurposed materials instead, using wooden ballot boxes and ink from a vaccination drive last year.
The commission said it did not coordinate directly with Israel or Hamas ahead of the vote. Associated Press footage showed security officers keeping order outside polling stations. COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to questions about blocking materials.
Palestinian voter turnout has gradually decreased but is relatively high by regional standards, averaging between 50% and 60%.
‘This is chaos, chaos, chaos’
Abbas signed a decree last year reforming elections that now allow voting for individuals rather than slates. In January, another decree required candidates to accept the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which leads the Palestinian Authority. It calls for the recognition of Israel and renouncing armed struggle, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.
Many cities — including Ramallah and Nablus — did not have contested elections.
With faith in political parties low, they were less important than families and clans in campaigning. Slates in major cities were dominated by Fatah, the faction that leads the Palestinian Authority, and independents, some with ties to other factions.
In Qalqilya, a city where no slates registered to participate, Marwan Ennabi said elections didn’t reflect that Palestinian democracy was thriving or capable of changing the deteriorating conditions on the ground.
“This isn’t transparency,” he said. “This is chaos, chaos, chaos!”
The Palestinian Authority will appoint councils in cities without contested races. It sees local elections as a low-risk way to demonstrate progress political, financial and administrative reforms, said Aref Jaffal, director of the al-Marsad Arab World Democracy and Electoral Monitor.
With the authority incapable of addressing hundreds of new Israeli military gates and settler outposts constricting movement in the West Bank, he said councils have taken on greater importance, overseeing local health centers and schools that residents once accessed elsewhere.
A new governance structure
Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority a year later. Hamas did not prevent Saturday’s vote from taking place in Deir al-Balah.
Hamas controls the half of Gaza that Israel withdrew from last year, including Deir al-Balah, but the enclave is preparing to transition to a new governance structure under U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan. That plan excludes both Fatah and Hamas.
The plan established an international Board of Peace and a committee of unelected Palestinian experts supposed to operate and govern under it. Progress toward further phases, including disarming Hamas, reconstruction and transferring power, is stalled.
The elections did not include Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, a recurring point of tension between Israel and Palestinian leaders. Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Jalal Bwaitel and Imad Isseid in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
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