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2021–22 Palestinian local elections

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On 11 December 2021, local elections were held in Palestine.[1] 154 towns and villages in the West Bank voted in municipal polls in the first phase, but there were no elections in the Gaza Strip.[2]

On 26 March 2022, municipal elections were held in 73 localities of West Bank.[3]

Background

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On 6 September, the Palestinian Authority decided to hold the elections for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[4] The Central Elections Commission announced that they would take place in two phases. The first phase was scheduled to be held on 11 December 2021 for 387 municipalities and village councils in West Bank and Gaza, with elections in 90 other localites to be held later. It however stated that the elections in Gaza could only be held if Hamas gave political approval for it.[5]

The elections took place amid a tense atmosphere between Fatah and Hamas over the postponement of more major elections that were also scheduled for 2021. It was also reported that voters were angry with the postponement of the presidential election and the legislative election by President Mahmoud Abbas.[6] Hamas announced that it would boycott the elections unless the Palestinian Authority agreed to hold the general elections as well.[7] As it barred the elections from taking place in Gaza,[8] the elections there were postponed to the second phase which was scheduled for 26 March 2022 in 66 councils. As a result, the first phase was scheduled to be held only in West Bank.[9]

Voter registration for the first phase of the elections opened on 3 October 2021 and closed on 7 October.[10] A total of 702,000 citizens were registered as being eligible for voting.[11] Registration for candidates began on 26 October and concluded on 4 November.[12] The electoral campaigning began on 27 November[13] and concluded on 9 December.[14]

61 localities where no elections were held in the first phase were included in the second phase, bringing the total to 127 localities including 25 in the Gaza Strip. Elections were not scheduled to be held in refugee camps in West Bank or East Jerusalem.[15] Hamas in January 2022 again prohibited holding the elections in Gaza.[8] Voter registration for the second phase began on 8 January and concluded on 12 January.[16] A total of 787,000 voters were registered.[17] The registration for candidates in the second phase was opened on 8 February and concluded on 17 February.[18] The campaigning period began on 12 March and concluded on 24 March.[19]

Participants

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The Central Elections Commission announced that 6,299 candidates were nominated including 1,599 women candidates. They belonged to 765 lists overall, including 277 affiliated with political parties and 488 independent ones.[20] For the first phase, a total of 4,880 candidates, including 1,551 women candidates, were approved.[21] Only 154 localities submitted multiple lists, while 162 localities submitted a single list, allowing them to win by acclamation. Another 60 localities submitted no lists.[22]

In the second phase, a total of 259 lists were submitted from 73 localities, with 178 being independent and 81 being affiliated to political parties. 50 localities submitted multiple lists, while 23 submitted only a single list and 28 submitted none. A total of 2,537 candidates were nominated, including 678 women.[23]

Hamas boycotted both the phases and did not allow the elections to be held in the Gaza Strip.[8] Many supporters and members of the movement however participated as independents and also joined with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 25 localities in the second phase.[24] The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also indicated that it would not participate in the elections.[25] Fatah candidates ran under the bloc named "Construction and Liberation".[26]

Opinion polls

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Round 1

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Date Pollster Sample
size 		Fatah Hamas Others Undecided DK/NA
14–23 October 2021 PCPSR 1,800 41% 27.1% 7.2% 14.0% 7.6%

Round 2

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Date Pollster Sample
size 		Fatah Hamas Others Undecided DK/NA
8–11 December 2021 PCPSR 1,270 38%[a] 30%[a] - - -
29%[b] 47%[b] - - -
14–23 October 2021 PCPSR 1,800 35.4% 35.4% 10.5% 13.0% 4.5%

Results

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First phase

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According to the Central Elections Commission the turnout for the first phase was 64.79%, with 268,318 out of a total 405,687 eligible voters casting their ballots for 1,503 seats in 154 localities. 1.01% of votes were cast as white ballots while 2.43% were declared as invalid.[27]

70.86% seats up for election were won by independent lists and 29.14% were won by candidates of political parties. Candidates won by acclamation in 162 localities.[27] 21.8% of the overall winning candidates were women.[28]

Second phase

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The turnout for the second phase was 53.69% per the Central Elections Commission, with around 380,000 out of a total 715,413 eligible voters casting their ballots for 632 seats in 50 localities. 1% of votes were cast as white ballots while 2% were declared as invalid.[29]

64.4% seats up for election were won by independent lists and 35.5% were won by candidates of political parties. Candidates won by acclamation in 23 localities.[27] 19% of the overall winning candidates were women.[30]

Among partisan lists, Fatah won 217 seats either on its own or as part of coalition lists, while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine won five seats, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and Palestinian National Initiative won four seats each, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine won one seat.[31]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b West Bank
  2. ^ a b Gaza Strip

References

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  1. ^ Ayyub, Rami; Sawafta, Ali (2021-12-11). "Palestinians vote in local elections amid rising anger with Abbas". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  2. ^ "Palestinians line up to vote in local elections". uk.sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  3. ^ "Palestinians in West Bank vote in 2nd phase of local elections". Anadolu Agency. 26 March 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  4. ^ David Odeh (27 November 2022). "انتخابات فلسطين المحلية.. حماس تقاطع وحجب صور مرشحات". Al Ain News. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Palestinian municipal elections in West Bank, Gaza scheduled for December". Agence-France Presse. The Times of Israel. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Some 400,000 Palestinians vote in rare municipal elections". The Independent. 2021-12-11. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  7. ^ "Hamas rejects PA's call for Palestinian local elections set for December". Agence France-Presse. Al Arabiya. 22 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "Hamas rejects municipal elections in Gaza". i24NEWS. 4 January 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  9. ^ "المرحلة الثانية من الانتخابات المحلية في مارس 2022" (in Arabic). Palestinian News Agency. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  10. ^ "Registration for Palestinian municipal elections opens in West Bank". Daily Sabah. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  11. ^ "فتح باب الترشح للانتخابات المحلية بدءاً من اليوم ولمدة 10 أيام" (in Arabic). An-Najah Nbc. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  12. ^ "فتح فتح باب الترشح للانتخابات المحلية 2021" (in Arabic). Wattan News Agency. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. ^ "الانتخابات المحلية الفلسطينية: اتهامات للسلطة بالبحث عن نتائج مضمونة" (in Arabic). Al Arabiya. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  14. ^ "الانتخابات الفلسطينية: لماذا غابت صور النساء عن الدعايات الانتخابية؟" (in Arabic). Arab 48. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Elections commission says 89% of eligible voters have already registered for the second phase of the local elections". Wafa. 8 January 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  16. ^ "بدء مرحلة التسجيل والنشر والاعتراض للمرحلة الثانية من الانتخابات المحلية" (in Arabic). Palestinian Press Agency. 8 January 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  17. ^ "انتخابات "البلديات الكبرى" تدخل الشق العملي.. فتح تبدأ باستعدادات قوية وقوائم المستقلين وأخرى قبلية تستعد للتنافس" (in Arabic). Al-Quds Al-Arabi. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  18. ^ "بدءفتح باب الترشح للمرحلة الثانية من انتخابات الهيئات المحلية الفلسطينية في الضفة الغربية" (in Arabic). Xinhua News Agency. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  19. ^ "فلسطين.. انطلاق الدعاية للانتخابات المحلية بالضفة" (in Arabic). Anadolu Agency. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  20. ^ Khalil Musa (30 November 2021). "مرشحات للانتخابات المحلية الفلسطينية بلا أسماء أو صور". The Independent (in Arabic). Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  21. ^ "فلسطينيات يخضن الانتخابات البلدية في الضفة الغربية بقائمة نسوية خالصة". Agence-France Presse (in Arabic). Swissinfo. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  22. ^ Jehad Barakat (11 December 2021). "Divisions as Palestinians in occupied West Bank cast local votes". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  23. ^ "CEC says 259 electoral lists are competing in 73 West Bank localities out of 101 total for the 2nd phase of local elections". Wafa. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  24. ^ Entsar Abu Jahal (29 March 2022). "Hamas boycotts West Bank elections, members run in independent lists". Al Monitor. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  25. ^ Aaron Boxerman (22 September 2021). "Hamas rejects Palestinian Authority's call for municipal elections". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  26. ^ Khaled Abu Toameh (12 December 2021). "Hamas: Despite boycott, our supporters ran in municipal elections". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  27. ^ a b c "CEC announces the results of first phase of 2021 Local Elections". Wafa. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  28. ^ "Factsheet on Palestinian Local Elections – Phase I 'Women in election campaigns'". Palestinian Initiative for Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  29. ^ "CEC announces results for second phase of the local elections". Wafa. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Factsheet on Palestinian Local Elections – Phase Two 'Women and Youth presence in electoral lists and elections campaigns'". Palestinian Initiative for Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  31. ^ "Final Report | March 26, 2022, Municipal Elections in West Bank/Gaza" (PDF). The Carter Center. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
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