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Ramallah, West Bank — <\/span>For the first time in two decades, Palestinians in war-torn Gaza got the chance to vote in local elections on Saturday.<\/p>\n and occupied by Israel west coast<\/a>Voters are voting for the first time since the beginning Israel-Hamas war<\/a>. The poll may reflect the level of public confidence in the broader system led by aging leaders in the West Bank and Gaza as it prepares for an anticipated transition from Hamas rule. <\/p>\n The vote in the West Bank will determine the composition of local councils that oversee water, roads and electricity. On the other hand, voting in a city in Gaza is largely symbolic, with officials calling it a “pilot”.<\/p>\n Although it has not held presidential or legislative elections since 2006, the Palestinian Authority has boosted local elections following reforms implemented last year. demand from international supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under the slogan “We Stay”, the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission has launched a campaign to encourage participation among the approximately 70,000 eligible voters in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and 1 million voters in the West Bank. <\/p>\n Its spokesman Farid Tamallah said, “The vote reflects the desire of the Palestinian people to live on their land and develop their country.”<\/p>\n With much of Gaza destroyed in more than two years of war, the Commission decided to hold its first vote in Deir al-Balah, which was damaged by air strikes but was one of the few areas that escaped the Israeli ground offensive. It had to be reformed because it was unable to perform traditional voter registration. <\/p>\n “The main idea is to connect the West Bank and Gaza politically as one system,” Tamallah said. Palestinians see uniting the two under one government as integral to any path to a future state.<\/p>\n He said the commission did not coordinate directly with Israel or Hamas ahead of the Deir al-Balah vote and was not able to send materials such as ballot papers, ballot boxes or ink to Gaza. COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to questions about whether it would allow election material.<\/p>\n Although Palestinian voter turnout has gradually declined, it has remained relatively high last local elections<\/a> By regional standards, the average is between 50% and 60%, according to Commission data. By comparison, turnout in recent local elections lebanon<\/a> And tunisia<\/a> was less than 40% and 12% respectively.<\/p>\n ninety year old President Mahmoud Abbas<\/a> Last year signed a decree making radical changes to the electoral system in line with some demands of western donors<\/a>. The reforms allowed individuals to vote instead of slates, lowered the eligibility age to run, and increased quotas for female candidates.<\/p>\n In January, another order from Abbas required candidates to accept the program of Palestine Liberation Organization<\/a>The group that leads the Palestinian Authority. The program calls for recognizing Israel and renouncing armed conflict, effectively sidelining Hamas and other factions.<\/p>\n Slates in major cities are dominated by Fatah, the faction leading the Palestinian Authority, and independents, some of whom are linked to other factions. However, this is the first time in six local elections that no other faction has officially put forward its own slate \u2013 analysts say this absence reflects Political disillusionment under Abbas’s leadership<\/a> And the authority’s aging leadership.<\/p>\n In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the authority exercises limited autonomy, and local councils oversee services ranging from garbage collection to building permits. The vote will take place in villages known as “Area C” under Israeli military control, as well as in municipalities that have been occupied by Israeli forces since their launch. a ground attack<\/a> Last year in the northern West Bank.<\/p>\n Campaign posters have been posted throughout cities, although many cities, including Ramallah and Nablus, will not hold elections because too few candidates or candidates are registered.<\/p>\n The Palestinian Authority’s power has waned amid years of peace talks with Israel and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. But it sees local elections as a less risky way to demonstrate progress on reforms,<\/a> said Aref Jafal, director of Al-Marsad Arab World Democracy and Electoral Monitor.<\/p>\n “The PA wants to show that it is on the right track on political, financial and administrative reforms and is using the local elections as a symbol of this,” he said. \u201cWith the national government having weak legitimacy, it is trying to strengthen legitimacy through local elections.\u201d<\/p>\n The authority has little recourse to address hundreds of new military gates<\/a> And settlers’ posts<\/a> By limiting movement in the West Bank, he said many councils have placed more importance on maintaining local health centres, schools and public services that residents once had access to elsewhere.<\/p>\n Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority a year later. It did not field candidates for Saturday, but a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows it remains the most popular Palestinian faction in both Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called the elections “an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise their democratic rights during an exceptionally challenging period.”<\/p>\n However, other international actors have remained largely silent on the Gaza vote, with memories of previous elections still fresh, exacerbating conflict and leaving other pathways to governance in limbo.<\/p>\n Hamas controls half of Gaza that Israeli forces withdrew from last year, including Deir al-Balah, but the coastal enclave is preparing to transition to a new governance structure under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan.<\/p>\n