https://arab.news/9qcwv
Elections for municipal councils throughout the West Bank and in one Gaza Strip city, Deir Al-Balah, will be held on Saturday. These will be the fifth local elections since the creation of the Central Elections Commission following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1993.
Before the creation of a Palestinian government, municipal elections provided a rare platform to gauge public opinion. Elected mayors and councils often carried the political aspirations of Palestinians for freedom and self-determination. However, since then, municipal elections have had less of a political role and more of a service-oriented role.
The Palestinian leadership, under President Mahmoud Abbas, has tried its best to avoid competitive elections in major cities, even though these elections will not include Hamas supporters due to the conditions of participation. They worry that competing lists will be seen as a referendum against an unpopular Abbas, even though such opposition might largely come from supporters of his own Fatah movement.
In Gaza, the only town holding municipal elections is Deir Al-Balah, where four largely family-based lists are participating. Some nominees are close to but are not members of any known political faction. Certainly, no Hamas participants will be involved.
