GAZA – Palestinians are voting in local elections on Saturday, including the first poll of any kind to be held in Gaza since 2006. Elections are taking place across the occupied West Bank, as well as in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where Hamas operates.
Hamas was not allowed to stand, and several other factions have boycotted the vote over a requirement that candidates recognize the authority of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) governing parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control.
Fatah, the faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas and which dominates the PLO, was violently ousted from Gaza after the last elections there, which Hamas won, triggering a power struggle between the two groups. More than a million voters across the Palestinian territories are eligible to take part, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission, including 70,000 in Deir al-Balah, where 12 polling stations were scheduled to operate. Results are expected late on Saturday or on Sunday.
While Hamas was not on the ballot in Deir al-Balah, Reuters reported that one slate of candidates was widely seen as being aligned with the group. The central city was chosen as the sole Gaza area where elections would take place because it was not as badly damaged as other areas during the Israel-Hamas war. A fragile ceasefire is in place as part of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which halted the fighting in October last year.
With Fatah the only major faction on the ballot across the Palestinian territories—and guaranteed victory in some districts because no opposition candidates are running—these elections highlight the continued lack of unity between the two main Palestinian factions. The field narrowed after several groups objected to an election law that set the conditions under which candidates would be permitted to run.
The law states that candidates can only run if they commit to recognizing “the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, its political and national program, and the relevant decisions of international legitimacy.” The PLO-dominated PA has formally claimed to be the legitimate government in Gaza despite exercising no effective control there. Hamas and several other Palestinian factions oppose the PLO, including over its recognition of Israel. (BBC)
