BEIT HANUN, Gaza Strip, 28 January 2005 — Voters flocked to the polls in 10 municipalities yesterday for the Gaza Strip’s first local elections, with Palestinian group Hamas confident of a strong showing in its stronghold.
Polls closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), an official from the central elections committee told AFP, with turnout averaging between 82 and 83 percent. “The elections passed quietly with no violations,” Firas Yahi said, adding the final result would be published at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) today.
Queues of people lined up outside polling booths in towns such as Beit Hanun and Deir el Balah with more than 90,000 voters entitled to cast their ballots in 167 voting centers. A total of 414 candidates, many of them independents, are up for election to 118 council seats.
Local Government Minister Jamal Shobaki said yesterday elections would take place in around 100 Palestinian municipalities on April 28 including in the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Polls would also be held in major towns such as Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Tulkarm and Salfit, Shobaki told AFP.
An earlier round of local elections was held in 26 West Bank municipalities late last month, but the new phase should give around half of the overall electorate a chance to vote this time, Shobaki added.
“Voting will be held in around 50 percent of all the municipalities in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. Polling would not be taking place in other main population centers such as Nablus, Jenin and Hebron, nor in Gaza City.
The West Bank elections on Dec. 23 and in Gaza yesterday have attracted large turnouts.
It is the first time that Palestinians in the territory have had the opportunity to vote for officials on local councils.
Hamas has in the past boycotted presidential and legislative elections but it has decided to test its electoral strength this time round, running on a strong anti-corruption ticket.
It did field some candidates in a round of municipal elections in the West Bank last month but this is seen as the first real test of its popularity.
Mohammed Al-Masri, a Hamas candidate in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanun, said that the organization’s track record for providing welfare support to the most impoverished Palestinians should stand it in good stead.
“Everybody knows Hamas as a resistance group but Hamas is much more than just that,” he told AFP. “We have a reputation as professionals in the social field, providing health and education services as well as welfare support.”
“We have a very important mission in front of us to rebuild the streets and houses, to solve the problem of essential services, provide electricity in the streets,” said Masri.
Ashraf Naim said he would be voting for Hamas as he trusted it to embark on a reform drive much more than the dominant Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “Everybody knows about the problems in the municipalities,” he said. “I am voting for Hamas as it wants to reform the institutions and fight corruption.”
Regardless of who they intended to vote for, many residents were just delighted to have an opportunity to choose their local leaders. Sixty-eight-year-old Mohmmed Abu Harbed said it was something he had long waited to see. “This is the first time I have been able to vote in local elections,” he said.
“The elections and democracy is the right way to proceed. This demonstrates the development of the Palestinian people and nation.
“Our people have suffered for the last 50 years and we are all tired of this. Being able to choose our own candidates is the best way to fight corruption.”
