Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and parts of the Gaza Strip headed to polls of the municipal election on Saturday, the first since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.
According to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission, nearly 1.5 million voters are registered in the West Bank, whereas about 70,000 people are eligible to vote in the Deir el-Balah area of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
Polling stations opened at 7:00am (local time), marking a significant political event amid ongoing conflict.
Most electoral lists are aligned with president Mahmud Abbas’s secular-nationalist Fatah party or feature candidates running as independents.
There are no lists affiliated with Fatah’s archrival Hamas, which controls nearly half of the Gaza Strip.
UN coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov commended the election commission for organising a credible process.
“Saturday’s elections represent an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise their democratic rights during an exceptionally challenging period,” Alakbarov said in a statement ahead of the polls.
Polling stations in the West Bank will close at 7:00 pm (local time), while polls in Deir el-Balah will close at 5:00 pm (local time) to facilitate counting in daylight due to the lack of electricity in the war-devastated strip, the elections commission told AFP.
The elections are being held as many residents in Gaza continue to face severe humanitarian challenges, struggling to meet basic needs due to continued Israeli military operations.
Since the start of the war, at least 72,568 people have been killed and more than 172,338 injured in Gaza, according to available figures.
The vote is the first electoral exercise among Palestinians since the outbreak of the war, taking place under difficult security and humanitarian conditions.
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