RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Voter registration closed across the West Bank on Sunday ahead of municipal elections on April 25, when Palestinians will cast ballots to elect 420 local councils, a rare democratic exercise in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Voting will also take place in central Gaza for the Deir Al-Balah council, a spokesman for the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission told AFP.
“The elections in both the West Bank and in (Deir el-Balah) Gaza will be organized on April 25,” Farid Tumallah said.
“Registration of candidates will open on February 23 for a period of one week,” he added.
President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement is widely expected to dominate candidate lists, with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority exercising tight political control.
It remains unclear whether Hamas, the Islamist group that governs parts of the Gaza Strip not occupied by Israeli forces, will participate.
Hamas boycotted the previous municipal elections held in 2021-2022 after the PA postponed long-overdue parliamentary and presidential polls, deepening an internal Palestinian political split.
Fatah and Hamas relations broke down in 2007, when Hamas seized control of Gaza following a brief but bloody clashes, leaving the Palestinian territories divided between the two factions.
The Islamist group had won the parliamentary elections the previous year, the last time they were held.
“Organizing elections in Gaza is logistically challenging. We are trying to develop special procedures for voting and elections in Deir Al-Balah,” Tumallah said, without elaborating.
“Holding elections in the remaining municipalities of the Gaza Strip is not currently feasible due to compelling security and logistical circumstances,” the commission said in a statement.
This year’s municipal elections are being closely watched as part of what Abbas has described as a reform and renewal process within the PA, pledged amid growing international pressure for greater accountability, improved governance and political inclusion.
Western and regional donors have increasingly tied financial and diplomatic support to visible reforms, particularly at the local governance level, as national elections remain frozen.
With no presidential or legislative elections held since 2006, municipal councils have become one of the few functioning democratic institutions under PA administration.
Officials argue that strengthening local government, improving service delivery and renewing council mandates can help rebuild public trust at a time when the PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy.
The Fatah-dominated PA controls parts of the West Bank, while Gaza has been devastated by nearly two years of war following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
The war has further complicated Palestinian political reconciliation and electoral planning.
Municipal councils are responsible for basic services such as water, sanitation and local infrastructure and don’t enact legislation.
While many candidate lists are aligned with political factions, independent lists are also permitted to run.