Low turnout as Palestinians vote in first elections since Gaza war
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A man sits next to an election campaign banner showing candidates for the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorates ahead of municipal elections, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
PHOTO: AFP
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories – Palestinians in the West Bank and central Gaza voted on April 25 in municipal elections, the first since the war in Gaza erupted, with low turnout and a limited political field.
Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission.
In the opening hours, a steady trickle of voters made their way to polling stations in Al-Bireh in the West Bank and Deir el-Balah.
By late morning, turnout was strikingly low at 15 per cent, rising to 24.53 per cent by 1pm local time, the election commission said.
An AFP journalist reported near‑empty stations across parts of the West Bank, as foreign diplomats observed the process.
“We are very pleased to exercise democracy in spite of the many challenges we face, both locally and internationally,” Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told journalists after voting in Al-Bireh, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
Voter Khalid Eid said he hoped for change in council composition.
“We can’t change the situation but we hope to replace people... people who might be better and help develop the community,” the 55-year-old told AFP.
Some questioned the election’s timing.
“We did not want elections at this time – not with war in Gaza and settler attacks ongoing in the West Bank,” said Mr Ziad Hassan, a businessman from Dura Al-Qaraa village.
“The decision was imposed on us, and so we are compelled to elect an administrative body for the village council.”
Israeli settler attacks have surged in recent months, and become a major concern.
“The main thing is security from settlers. That’s why we need new faces, young people willing to fight for our rights,” said 68-year-old Abed Jabaieh, former mayor of Ramun village.
Most electoral lists are aligned with Mr Abbas’s secular-nationalist Fatah movement or are composed of independents.
EU hails vote
Hamas, Fatah’s bitter rival and the ruling power in Gaza, is absent from the race.
In many municipalities, Fatah‑backed lists face off against independents supported by smaller factions such as the Marxist‑Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Municipal councils oversee water, sanitation, and local infrastructure but do not enact legislation.
Still, with presidential or legislative elections frozen since 2006, councils have become one of the last remaining democratic mechanisms under the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy.
Western and regional donors have increasingly tied financial and diplomatic support for the PA to visible reform, particularly in local governance.
The European Union called the vote an “important step towards broader democratisation and strengthened local governance... in line with the ongoing reforms process”.
‘Strong determination’
Polling closes at 7pm local time in the West Bank, but at 5pm local time in Deir el-Balah to allow for counting in daylight because of the lack of electricity in the war-devastated strip, the elections commission told AFP.
Two years of war have left swathes of Gaza destroyed and more than 72,000 people dead, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Public infrastructure, sanitation services and the health sector are all struggling to function.
Under Hamas control since 2007, Gaza is seeing its first vote since the 2006 legislative elections that the Islamist movement won.
The PA is holding elections only in Deir el-Balah to test its “success or failure, since there are no post-war opinion polls”, said political scientist Jamal al-Fadi, of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.
It was chosen as one of the few areas where the population has not been massively displaced.
After voting there, Mr Mohammed al-Hasayna, 24, said although the elections were largely symbolic, they served as a sign of people’s “will to live”.
“We are an educated people with strong determination, and we deserve to have our own state,” he told AFP.
“We want the world to help us overcome the catastrophe of war. Enough wars – it is time to work towards rebuilding Gaza.” AFP
