No ballot papers, no ink, no boxes: Inside Gaza’s first election in two decades
Palestinians lined up outside polls in tents and donated buildings on Saturday to vote in the first elections held in part of Gaza in more than two decades, while voting also took place across the West Bank.More than 70,000 people are eligible to vote for municipal government in Deir al-Balah, a central Gaza city that has been damaged by airstrikes but was spared an Israeli ground invasion. The single-city vote is a largely symbolic “pilot,” election officials say, part of an effort to politically link Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians see both as integral to any future path to statehood.
Israel blocked election materials
Associated Press footage showed security officers keeping order outside polling stations. Election officials told AP that Israel blocked the entry of materials like ballot paper, ballot boxes and ink into Gaza. The commission repurposed material instead, using wooden ballot boxes and blue ink leftover from a vaccination drive last year.The commission said it did not coordinate directly with either Israel or Hamas ahead of the vote. COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to questions about blocking materials.
Low turnout
By 1 p.m. (10:00 GMT), turnout stood at 24.5% in Deir al-Balah and 25.3% in the West Bank, according to official figures. By comparison, turnout in past Palestinian local elections has averaged between 50% and 60%.Voters spoke about the near-total absence of public services and said the devastation in Gaza compelled them to participate.“I came to vote because I have a right to elect members to municipal council so they can provide us with services,” Ashraf Abu Dan said outside his Deir al-Balah polling place.
Linking the West Bank and Gaza politically
Though it has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006, the Palestinian Authority promoted the local races after reforms it enacted last year in response to demands from international backers. Under the slogan “We Stay,” the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission campaigned to encourage participation.“We’re talking about geographically linking the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” Rami Hamdallah, the commission’s chairman, said.Casting his ballot in the Al-Bireh area near Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, 90, said eventually elections will be held across the Gaza Strip.“Gaza is an inseparable part of the state of Palestine. Therefore, we have worked by all means to ensure that elections take place in Deir al-Balah to affirm the unity of the two parts of the country together,” he said.
Thin candidate pool
Abbas signed a decree last year reforming elections in line with some demands of Western donors, including allowing voting for individuals rather than slates. In January, another Abbas decree required candidates to accept the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which calls for recognition of Israel and renouncing armed struggle, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.Slates in major cities are dominated by Fatah, the faction that leads the Palestinian Authority, and independents. It is the first time in six local elections that no faction besides Fatah has put forward its own slate — an absence that analysts say reflects political disillusionment under Abbas and the authority’s aging leadership.In Qalqilya, a West Bank city where no slates registered to participate at all, Marwan Ennabi said elections didn’t reflect that Palestinian democracy was thriving.“This isn’t transparency,” he said. “This is chaos, chaos, chaos!”
Background
Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority a year later. It did not put forward candidates Saturday, though one slate in Deir al-Balah is widely viewed as aligned with the group.Hamas controls the half of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew from last year, but the coastal enclave is preparing to transition to a new governance structure under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which has stalled.
