522,000 Palestinians vote in local election amid low turnout

About 522,000 Palestinian voters participated in local elections in local councils in the occupied West Bank and the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, according to the Central Elections Commission.

Rami Hamdallah, the head of the commission, announced on Sunday that voter turnout in the West Bank reached 56 percent, a slight fall from the 58 percent turnout in the 2022 election.

Nearly 1.5 million people are registered to vote in the West Bank, as well as 70,000 people in Deir El-Balah area, according to the commission.

Deir al-Balah was the only region in Gaza where the election was held, after more than two years of Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave of Gaza destroyed the infrastructure of the main cities including Rafah and Khan Younis, which made holding elections in those areas unfeasible.

Deir al-Balah recorded the lowest voter turnout at 23 percent.

Residents there printed ballot papers and prepared boxes because the commission was barred by Israel from sending electoral materials, according to Hamdallah.

The Salfit Governorate, in the northern West Bank, recorded the highest voter turnout at 71 percent.

Hamdallah said that 197 local bodies were won by acclamation, while contests were held for the remaining 183 councils.

Additionally, women’s representation among the winners reached 33 percent.

He added that invalid ballots accounted for 4 percent, blank ballots for 1 percent, and valid ballots for 95 percent, according to the Wafa news agency.