Shatha Yaish & Ibtisam Mahdi
+972 Magazine / April 24, 2026
With local elections set to take place across the West Bank and one city in Gaza, residents are split as to the vote’s legitimacy and potential for change.
On Saturday, Palestinians will head to the polls for local elections spanning municipalities and village councils across the occupied West Bank, and a single city in the besieged Gaza Strip. The elections mark the first return to the ballot box since staggered local votes in the West Bank in 2021 and 2022; in Gaza, meanwhile, residents will be voting in formal elections for the first time in 20 years, when the last Palestinian legislative election took place.
In the West Bank, where there are over 1 million eligible voters, 365 electoral lists are contesting seats across 183 local bodies, according to the Central Elections Commission. Two voting systems are in play: proportional representation for municipalities, and a majoritarian system for village councils.
Most lists are running independently of major parties, while a small number are aligned with the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. Due to new regulations imposed by Abbas, which require candidates to commit to the program of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), none are explicitly affiliated with Hamas.
Candidates have focused on familiar promises: improved municipal services, infrastructure development, and greater transparency in local governance. But the competition is uneven: In dense urban centers like Nablus and Ramallah — the latter being the PA’s administrative hub — only one list is running, effectively securing victory by default. By contrast, in Ya’bad, a town near Jenin with one-tenth the population of Nablus, 12 lists are competing for 13,000 eligible voters.
The campaign has unfolded under the shadow of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and, in the West Bank, soaring settler violence, deepening economic strain, and rapidly accelerating annexation. In the week leading up to the elections, Jewish settlers killed three Palestinians in two villages near Ramallah: Aws Hamdi Naasan (14) and Jihad Abu Naiem (35) at a school in Al-Mughayyir; and Odeh Awawdeh (25) in Deir Dibwan. Days later, Israeli soldiers shot dead 15-year-old Yousef Sameh Ishtayeh in Nablus.
Many Palestinians have also criticized new election regulations issued by the PA last November, which they see as an attempt to curb meaningful political participation and eliminate competition. Still, thousands in both the West Bank and Gaza are eager to cast their ballot as a means to improve their lives, even on a small scale.
‘We have to start somewhere’
Rana Abu Farha Rishmawi, a well-known local TV presenter, is running for a seat on a municipal list in her hometown of Beit Sahour, a majority-Christian town in the southern West Bank. She is fully aware of what she calls the “difficult circumstances” surrounding the vote, but has tried to connect with voters on social media to outline her platform.
Rishmawi’s list, “Shabab Al-Balad” (“Youth of the Town”), is led by a former Fatah secretary-general in Beit Sahour. Among her priorities are “strengthening the role of women and youth in decision-making positions within the municipality.”
“I’m running for two reasons,” she told +972 Magazine. “The first is that this is a democratic process, and I want to witness and support democracy in action. I see it as an opportunity to encourage people to take part in decision-making.” Explaining that residents often complain of the dominance of official authorities like the PA, she emphasized: “This time, the decision is theirs.”
The second reason she outlined is “the need for renewal: new voices, new visions, and new ideas. Our country needs real work and a great deal of reform.”
Rishmawi is under no illusions about the broader context. “I fully understand the general political and economic situation, including limited funding and the impact of [Israeli] settlements,” she said, adding that she does not “have a magic wand to change reality overnight. But we have to start somewhere. It’s better than surrendering.”
Across much of the West Bank, however, expectations are low. Many Palestinians see little chance that local elections will meaningfully alter daily life, as settler attacks become a daily occurrence and a web of Israeli military checkpoints and gates suffocate residents’ social and economic lives. For many, survival has taken precedence over political participation, and many doubt that these elections will affect much of anything.
Islam Bader, a cashier at a café in Ramallah who is originally from Hebron, still sees voting as worthwhile — even if it requires a difficult journey to his hometown through multiple Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks.
“I think I should go to Hebron to vote,” he said. “Maybe it’s a chance for us to improve the situation in my city. Some people don’t care, but the situation is really difficult, and I think we should. We have to choose the right people and stay away from tribal and family bias.”
‘Stripped of any political substance’
In the northern city of Qalqiliya, no lists have been registered, making it the only West Bank city without candidates. Local factions have reportedly opted out, reflecting broader divisions over the legitimacy and utility of the process under the current political conditions.
“Local elections have been on the cards for some time — partly because they are the easiest mechanism for trying to instil institutional legitimacy into the PA, and partly because Palestine isn’t in a position to be holding national elections,” explained Tahani Mustafa, a visiting fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a lecturer in International Relations at King’s College London.
These elections, she said, are “not so much [about] ideology or dogma or politics, it’s more service provision — especially at a time when Israel is trying to make life so unsustainable on the land.”
The limited scope of the elections’ influence has been reinforced by recent legal changes. On Nov. 19, President Abbas issued a decree annulling the law governing local elections. The new rules require candidates to sign a declaration committing to the program of the PLO and its international obligations.
Civil society groups have condemned this provision, arguing that it restricts political participation and violates protections enshrined in international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the State of Palestine is a party. Critics also say it contradicts the Palestinian Declaration of Independence and the Palestinian Basic Law, both of which guarantee political pluralism and the right to participate in public affairs.
Mustafa argued that the elections can also be viewed as an attempt by the PA — which has not organized legislative elections since Hamas won a victory over Fatah in 2006 — to meet international expectations. “These elections have been deliberately designed to be stripped of any political substance,” she explained.
Awareness of these rule changes appears limited. A March poll by the Institute for Social and Economic Progress found that only one in four Palestinians had heard about Abbas’ new decree.
Given the current economic conditions and political situation, Mustafa said, voters are primarily concerned with practical outcomes. “I don’t think Palestinian voters themselves would be interested in anything short of candidates running on the basis of being able to provide better services. That seems to be where people’s priorities are right now.” Still, she noted that voting patterns are often shaped by “factional, tribal, and family ties — sometimes bribes as well.”
‘We just want to be included’
Unlike the lukewarm reception and general apathy surrounding elections in the West Bank, the atmosphere in the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah is markedly different. It is the only locality in the Strip where elections are being held: More than half of the enclave remains under direct Israeli military occupation, and Deir Al-Balah sustained less damage than other cities in the areas beyond the “Yellow Line.” (A statement by the Central Elections Commission said it hoped to “complet[e] the democratic process in all local authorities of the Gaza Strip as soon as conditions improve, providing the enabling environment for conducting elections.”)
Since Hamas’ 2006 electoral victory and subsequent takeover of the Strip, local governance has been determined by administrative appointments rather than elections. Twenty years later, there may only be 70,000 eligible voters — due to the requirement that participants must be from Deir Al-Balah — but the elections have captured widespread public attention, with four competing lists fielding a combined 64 candidates.
In markets, bread lines, and gatherings outside temporary shelters, the vote is a constant topic of conversation. Arguments over whether to participate or boycott are heated. Meanwhile, residents have reported receiving threatening messages to their mobile phones from Israeli intelligence agencies stating that whatever the result of the elections, Israel remains in control of Deir Al-Balah.
Khalil Abu Samra, a 52-year-old mukhtar (community leader), said his decision to run on the “Future of Deir Al-Balah” list came in response to calls from the community, particularly given the “exceptional circumstances.” He is cautious about expectations: Rather than making sweeping promises, Abu Samra told +972 that he intends to focus on restoring basic services like water distribution and sewage systems.
Not everyone is convinced the process is appropriate. Samar Joudeh, 35, said her husband has been urging her to vote for a friend running in the election, but she remained conflicted. “We want to live, but we should not forget the bigger issue,” she said.
“Why are we holding elections here while the rest of the Gaza Strip cannot? Why are we discriminating in a right that belongs to every Palestinian? We are still in a state of war. Do we want to delude the world into thinking that everything is back to normal? That the war is over and Gaza’s problems are solved?”
Others, displaced from elsewhere in the devastated Strip, say they feel shut out entirely. Samer Omar, who fled the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in October 2025 and now lives in Deir Al-Balah, said the issue is not whether the elections are right or wrong but rather who gets to take part. “We just want to be included,” he said. “We see the campaign ads, we see candidates talking to young people, and we are completely outside the equation.”
He recalled a recent encounter in a restaurant where a campaigner approached his table to encourage voting. “I interrupted him and said we are all from the north,” Omar said. “The guy got up without even apologizing and moved to another table. As soon as he sat down, he asked them: ‘Are you from Deir Al-Balah or displaced?’”
Ahmad Hallas, a 34-year-old displaced from the Shuja’iya neighbourhood of Gaza City, echoed a similar frustration. “We lost our homes. But this war wants to take everything from us. Even our voice.”
Shatha Yaish is a journalist covering East Jerusalem and the West Bank
Ibtisam Mahdi is a freelance journalist from Gaza specializing in reporting about social issues, especially concerning women and children
