QALQILYA, West Bank, 6 May 2005 — Palestinians voted for local governments in dozens of towns and villages across the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday in a contest that is expected to boost the Islamic group Hamas and could foreshadow results of parliamentary elections in July.
The ruling Fatah party of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, plagued by allegations of corruption after 10 years in power, is increasingly concerned Hamas will rout it in local voting and in the national election.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recently proposed to Hamas to delay the parliament vote until the end of the year in exchange for bringing the opposition group into his Cabinet now, senior Hamas officials said yesterday. Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader in the West Bank, said the group rejected the offer.
Yesterday’s vote is the third — and largest — round of municipal elections since December. Candidates from Hamas, Fatah and independent lists were competing for 906 local council seats in 84 communities, including the towns of Bethlehem and Qaliliya in the West Bank and Rafah in Gaza. Polls close at 7 p.m., with first results expected after midnight.
By midday yesterday, 35 percent of voters had cast their ballots, election officials said, adding that they received no reports of major disruptions.
The municipal campaigns were largely waged over local issues, such as clean government and better services, and analysts say clan loyalties also influence voting. However, the election also comes at a time of growing disappointment with Abbas; his main achievement — a truce with Israel — appears to be coming apart and he has little else to present to voters.
The municipal vote is about better services, “but on the other hand, it’s also Hamas competing against Fatah,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a former local affairs minister. In the Gaza refugee camp of Rafah, hardest-hit in Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Salma Abu Gazar, 51, said she voted for Hamas because she wants change. “We want clean streets and new projects, like sewage treatment, and our destroyed homes to be rebuilt. I believe that Fatah will not do anything. They will monopolize everything like they have done before,” she said.
