RAMALLAH, West Bank, 16 December 2005 — Palestinians in the main West Bank cities were voting yesterday in elections seen as a final dress rehearsal for next month’s parliamentary contest between Hamas and the ruling Fatah faction.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was among voters who cast their ballot in his hometown of Al-Bireh, which adjoins Ramallah.
“This is a great day for democracy,” Abbas told reporters as he entered the polling station. “All Palestinian citizens should fulfill their duty and take part in the elections. We will respect the results of these elections.”
The local elections commission put the turnout at between 60 and 65 percent three hours before the 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) scheduled close of voting, saying that the numbers were higher in villages than in cities.
Around 148,000 Palestinians were entitled to vote in yesterday’s elections for 414 council seats. About one-fifth of the 1,321 candidates are women.
The election pits Abbas’s dominant but divided Fatah party against the Islamists of Hamas, which has enjoyed a strong showing in the three earlier rounds of voting.
Hamas’s success at municipal level has persuaded the movement to agree to participate in what will be its first-ever parliamentary elections on Jan. 25.
Yesterday’s ballot was expected to provide a much firmer indicator of the Islamists’ strength as it will be the first time voting has taken place in the cities.
Earlier ballots were held in towns and villages where local issues and tribal affiliations were the main factors determining how people voted.
This round will take place in 40 municipalities including the largest West Bank city of Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
A public holiday has been declared in all the areas where voting was taking place.
Mohammed Naim, 48, voted with his mother for Hamas in Al-Bireh, saying it was time for a change.
“We have tried the others (Fatah) over the years and it hasn’t worked,” he told AFP. “I hope that the new lot will bring about change.” “My mother has made the same choice,” he said.
However Muayyad Hamad, 24, said he was unconvinced by any of the 44 candidates from Hamas, Fatah or independents on the ballot papers in Al-Bireh.
“I am going to mark a cross in three boxes so that my ballot paper is considered null and void,” he said. “Voting can also be a form of protest.” Long queues built up outside the polling booths in Ramallah, considered a stronghold of Fatah.
Businessman Mahmud Shehadeh, 45, said he had voted for Hamas as he had been impressed by how it had run the municipality of Qalqilya which it won in May during a previous round of elections.
“Since their victory in Qalqilya, the Islamists have launched a whole host of projects. I have heard that spending there has risen by $6 million and I hope the same thing is going to happen here.”
Commentators expect the battle for votes to be particularly intense in Nablus, with an opinion poll released earlier this week by Bir Zeit University predicting Hamas would emerge triumphant.
Should Nablus fall to Hamas, it would deal a huge psychological blow to Fatah and mark the first time it has lost control in a major urban center.
Hamas, which has been behind the majority of anti-Israeli attacks since the intifada erupted, has shone the spotlight during its campaign on the corruption and incompetence which have dogged the Palestinian Authority.
