PA leader Abbas’s loyalists win local elections, including in Gaza’s Deir al‑Balah

First election of any kind in Strip in over 2 decades is cast by Ramallah as a success and ‘another step on the path to full independence’

A list backed by the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party won most races in the weekend’s Palestinian municipal elections, election officials said Sunday, in a vote that for the first time in nearly two decades included a city in the Gaza Strip run by Hamas, the terror group that violently ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2007.

Saturday’s ballot marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian polls since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror onslaught in southern Israel and subsequent Israeli war against Hamas.

Abbas’s West Bank-based government said the inclusion of the Gazan city of Deir al‑Balah, which suffered less damage than other areas of the coastal territory during the war, was an achievement in itself and was intended to show that Gaza was an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state. Some 70,000 people were registered to vote in Deir al-Balah, according to the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission (CEC).

The elections were held “at a highly sensitive moment amid complex challenges and exceptional circumstances,” PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said as results were announced. But they represent “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life… and ultimately achieving the unity of the land,” he said.

Mustafa called Saturday’s elections “another step on the path to full independence.” Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a Palestinian state.

Voter turnout was low, especially in Deir al‑Balah, where only 23 percent of voters cast ballots, though officials cited challenges including large-scale displacement and outdated civil registry records.

In the West Bank, turnout was 56%, or over a half-million people, according to CEC Chairman Rami Hamdallah — not dramatically different from elections there in recent years.

Hamdallah said some of the ballot boxes and voting equipment did not make it into the enclave because of Israeli security restrictions, though those challenges were overcome.

“Everyone is aware of the political, security and economic conditions, the fragmentation of Palestinian territory, the war on Gaza, and the regional conflict in Iran,” Hamdallah, a former PA prime minister, told journalists.

“Simply holding the elections in Deir al-Balah is a significant achievement, and we hope to hold elections in other bodies across the Gaza Strip in the near future,” he said.

Hamdallah called the vote a reflection of national unity, adding that “we hope that presidential and legislative elections will follow.”

The Fatah-backed Nahdat Deir al‑Balah list, which secured the most seats in the local election, is headed by Hisham al-Dirawi, an engineer who worked for decades at the Deir al-Balah municipality, including under Hamas rule, until 2022.

The Hamas terror group, which forced Fatah and the PA from Gaza in 2007 in a bloody coup, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the West Bank, where Fatah’s victory was widely expected. But some candidates on one of the Deir al-Balah lists were widely seen by residents and analysts as aligned with Hamas, making the vote a potential indicator of support for the Islamist group.

Preliminary results showed that the list, known as Deir al‑Balah Brings Us Together, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza. The Fatah-backed Nahdat Deir al‑Balah list secured six seats. The remaining seats were won by two other Gaza-based groups, Future of Deir al‑Balah and Peace and Building, not affiliated with either faction.

Abbas loyalists swept the election in the West Bank, running unchallenged in many cases.

Hamas’s Gaza spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, saying that they had no impact on wider national issues.

“By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters appear to be seeking unrestricted international support for municipal governance and a gradual political shift that could extend beyond the local level,” says Palestinian political analyst Reham Ouda.

The elections in both territories were for the makeup of local councils tasked with overseeing water, roads and electricity.

The elections were the first to take place since the PA said it was enacting reforms, in response to international pressure. Elections now allow voting for individuals rather than slates. With faith in political parties low, they were less important than families and clans in campaigning.

The PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy. Western and regional donors have increasingly tied financial and diplomatic support for it to reform, particularly in local governance.

Presidential elections have not been held in 21 years. Abbas, 90, was elected to what was supposed to be a four-year term in 2005. The PA has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006.

Many Palestinians want more than local votes as they seek a greater say in their future.

“Municipal elections are an important step, but they are not enough. … We want general elections,” Bashar Masri, a prominent Palestinian-American business owner, said on social media.