2 yıl önce

Palestinians head to polls in municipal elections

Polling stations in 154 village councils in the occupied West Bank are open until 7:00 pm, with some 405,000 people eligible to vote.

Reuters

Municipal votes are typically held every four or five years.

Palestinians are voting in municipal elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a rare democratic exercise.

More than 400,000 Palestinians were eligible to cast ballots for representatives in 154 village councils in the occupied West Bank, where Abbas' Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule.

Municipal elections are not being held in Gaza, whose rulers Hamas are boycotting the vote amid a rift with Abbas' Fatah party.

The 86-year-old president postponed municipal votes in major West Bank cities, such as Ramallah, that could have been seen as a referendum on Abbas' rule.

Polling stations are open until 7:00 pm (1700 GMT)

Calling to reschedule the cancelled election

Abbas, whose support has sagged in opinion polls, drew widespread anger in April when he cancelled legislative and presidential elections scheduled for the summer, citing Israeli curbs on Palestinian voting in East Jerusalem.

"These elections cannot be an alternative to legislative elections," said Ahmad Issa, 23, outside a polling station in the West Bank village of Bir Nabala, adding that a legislative vote could offer "a horizon for the youth" and lead to reforms.

Abbas' rivals, including Hamas, accused him of using the Jerusalem voting dispute as an excuse to cancel elections that polls showed he and his party would lose to Hamas.

Abbas, who has ruled by decree for over a decade, denies this.

A spokesperson for Hamas, which boycotted previous municipal elections in 2012 and 2017, said the group "refuses to participate in partial elections that are tailored to Fatah, and conducted by the Palestinian Authority," calling on Abbas to reschedule the cancelled summer votes.

Rise in popularity of Hamas

Hamas has enjoyed a surge in popularity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since fighting an 11-day war with Israel in May.

The group won student council elections this year at several top West Bank universities, an important barometer of support.

Hamas won the Palestinians' last legislative election in 2006. That victory laid the ground for a political rupture. Hamas seized Gaza after fighting a short civil war there with Fatah in 2007 and has ruled the coastal enclave ever since.

The Palestinians seek statehood in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally, and peace talks between the two sides broke down in 2014.

SOURCE: Reuters