West Bank Residents Vote in Local Elections

Ramallah, MINA – Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank voted in local elections on Saturday.

From the 367 villages in the West Bank, 60 had no candidates and 162 on a list, leaving only 154 villages that did vote. Middle East Eye reported.

Polling stations closed at 7 p.m. local time with about 65 percent of the 405,000 eligible voters voting, according to the election committee.

The spokesman for the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission, Fareed Taamallah, said polling stations were opened in all villages scheduled to hold polls.

No legislative or presidential elections were held in the Palestinian territories for 15 years, while the last vote without Hamas’ participation was held in 2017.

The Palestinian Authority earlier this year announced their decision to indefinitely postpone presidential and parliamentary elections.

Political analyst Jihad Harb said the election was politically unimportant because it took place in villages and not in big cities and without the participation of Hamas.

The postponement of voting in presidential and legislative elections is also due to Israel’s refusal to allow voting in occupied east Jerusalem.

President Mahmoud Abbas’s (86 years) term was supposed to end in 2009.

In the last parliamentary elections held in 2006, Hamas won a majority of the vote. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)