Abbas loyalists win convincingly

President Mahmoud Abbas's loyalists won the majority of seats in Palestinian municipal elections, election officials said today, in a vote that included a city in the Gaza Strip, run by rival Hamas, for the first time in nearly two decades.

The vote held on Saturday marked the first elections of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian elections since the start of the Gaza war more than two years ago, following Hamas's attack on southern Israel.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, led by Abbas, said the inclusion of the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, which suffered less damage than other parts of the coastal territory during the war, was intended to show that Gaza is an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state, Reuters reported.

The elections, which saw low turnout, were held "at a very sensitive moment, amidst complex challenges and exceptional circumstances," Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said today.

However, they represent “an important first step in a broader national process aimed at strengthening democratic life... and, ultimately, achieving the unity of the homeland,” he said.

Hamas, which ousted the PA from power in Gaza in 2007, did not formally nominate candidates in Gaza and boycotted the race in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Fatah victory was widely expected.

However, some candidates on one of the lists in Deir al-Balah are widely seen by residents and analysts as close to the movement, making the vote a possible indicator of support for the Islamist group, according to Reuters.

Preliminary results showed that the "Deir al-Balah brings us together" list won only two of the 15 mandates up for grabs in Gaza.

The "Nahdat Deir al-Balah" list, supported by Abbas's Fatah and the Western-backed PU, won six seats. The remaining seats went to two other Gaza-based groups - "Future of Deir al-Balah" and "Peace and Construction", which are not affiliated with either faction.

Abbas loyalists won the elections in the West Bank by a landslide, where they were unopposed in many seats.

Fatah spokesman Abdul Fatah Daula said turnout was close to that of the last local elections in the West Bank, in 2022, praising voters for participating despite Israel's continued violence.

"By electing figures linked to Fatah, voters appear to be seeking to secure unlimited international support for municipal governance and a gradual political turnaround that could transcend the local level," said Palestinian political analyst Reham Uda.

The recent war has left much of Gaza in ruins, with many residents displaced and reduced to mere survival. Israel has continued to carry out attacks despite an October ceasefire.

In Gaza, voter turnout was just 23 percent, while in the West Bank it was 56 percent, according to the head of the Central Election Commission, Rami al-Hamdallah.

Al-Hamdale said some ballot boxes and voting equipment did not arrive in the enclave due to Israeli security restrictions, although these challenges were eventually overcome.

Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, downplayed the significance of the election results, saying they had no bearing on broader national issues.