Loyalists of President Abbas Win Most Municipal Elections in Palestine
For the first time in nearly two decades, a city in Gaza Strip run by Hamas is included in Palestinian municipal elections.
CAIRO: Loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas have won most races in Palestinian municipal elections, according to election officials.
The ballot, which took place on Saturday, marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Gaza war began more than two years ago with Hamas' cross-border attack on southern Israel.
The Palestinian Authority's West Bank-based government included the city Deir Al-Balah in Gaza in these elections, which has not suffered as much damage compared to other areas of the coastal territory during the war.
This move was intended to show that Gaza is an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state.
Despite low voter turnout, the election represented "an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life ...
and ultimately achieving the unity of the homeland," according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.
However, Hamas, which ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007, boycotted the race in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Preliminary results showed that Deir Al-Balah Brings Us Together list, seen as aligned with Hamas, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir Al-Balah list, backed by Abbas' Fatah party and the Western-backed PA, secured six seats.
Two other Gaza-based groups not affiliated with either faction won the remaining seats.
In the West Bank, Abbas loyalists swept the election, running unchallenged in many seats.
Voter turnout was close to that for the last municipal elections in 2022, despite ongoing violence by Israel.
Fatah spokesperson Abdul Fattah Dawla praised voters for participating.
Hamas' Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, stating they had no impact on wider national issues.
In Deir Al-Balah, voter turnout reached only 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent according to Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Rami Al-Hamdallah.
The ballot, which took place on Saturday, marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Gaza war began more than two years ago with Hamas' cross-border attack on southern Israel.
The Palestinian Authority's West Bank-based government included the city Deir Al-Balah in Gaza in these elections, which has not suffered as much damage compared to other areas of the coastal territory during the war.
This move was intended to show that Gaza is an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state.
Despite low voter turnout, the election represented "an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life ...
and ultimately achieving the unity of the homeland," according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.
However, Hamas, which ousted the PA from Gaza in 2007, boycotted the race in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Preliminary results showed that Deir Al-Balah Brings Us Together list, seen as aligned with Hamas, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
The Nahdat Deir Al-Balah list, backed by Abbas' Fatah party and the Western-backed PA, secured six seats.
Two other Gaza-based groups not affiliated with either faction won the remaining seats.
In the West Bank, Abbas loyalists swept the election, running unchallenged in many seats.
Voter turnout was close to that for the last municipal elections in 2022, despite ongoing violence by Israel.
Fatah spokesperson Abdul Fattah Dawla praised voters for participating.
Hamas' Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, stating they had no impact on wider national issues.
In Deir Al-Balah, voter turnout reached only 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent according to Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Rami Al-Hamdallah.
