{"id":48755,"date":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48755"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:04:30","slug":"in-gaza-first-local-vote-in-years-offers-gauge-of-hamas-popularity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48755","title":{"rendered":"In Gaza, first local vote in years offers gauge of Hamas popularity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Palestinians in one of the only Gaza cities not overrun by Israeli ground forces during the military conflict will \u200bvote this weekend in municipal elections that will feature some pro-Hamas candidates, offering a rare barometer of the group’s popularity.<\/p>\n

The vote in Deir al-Balah is \u200cpart of Palestinian Authority (PA) municipal elections that Palestinians have cast as a display of national unity against a United States plan for Gaza that they believe intends to entrench their separation from the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

It will be Gaza’s first vote of any kind since 2006, when Hamas won the PA’s legislative elections and later seized control of Gaza following a brief civil war with PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, dominant in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

The polls \u200bwill be the fifth municipal elections in the West Bank since 2005. In January, the PA said it would extend those elections to Gaza “wherever possible”, a move analysts \u200bsee as a symbolic effort to show Gaza remains part of a future Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

‘Change the reality imposed on us’ <\/p>\n

For Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, including \u2060Adham Al-Bardini, the vote on Saturday marks an opportunity for political expression after the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, that sparked Israel’s devastating two-year assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n

Read More: Israeli strikes kill five in Gaza, Hamas clashes with Israeli-backed militia<\/p>\n

“For the first time \u200bin my life, in 20 years, I will have this feeling. I have been hearing about elections since I was born, but because of the circumstances, no elections have been held,” said Al-Bardini, 34.<\/p>\n

“We \u200bare eager to take part so we can change the reality imposed on us.”<\/p>\n

In Deir al\u2011Balah, large banners bearing the logos of rival candidate lists decorate the streets. Voting will be held in 12 polling centres, including open fields and tents.<\/p>\n

Fareed Taamallah, spokesman for the PA Central Elections Commission, said roughly 70,000 Palestinians were eligible to vote in Deir al\u2011Balah, a city he said was chosen because it suffered less damage than the rest \u200bof the largely ruined territory.<\/p>\n

Four lists are fielding candidates in the election, including one that has several candidates who residents and analysts regard as pro-Hamas.<\/p>\n

Hamas has not explicitly fielded a list \u200bor endorsed any candidate, citing disagreements with Abbas over a PA decree that requires candidates to accept terms, including recognition of Israel. Other factions are also boycotting the vote, meaning Fatah is expected to sweep \u200clarger city councils \u2060in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

But despite its official boycott of the vote, Hamas “may be betting on winning in this election” and could use pro-Hamas candidates’ performance to gauge its popularity, said Hani Al-Masri, a West Bank political analyst.<\/p>\n

Also Read: US, Hamas hold direct talks in Cairo to advance Gaza ceasefire: report<\/p>\n

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the group would respect the election results. Sources in the group told Reuters that it will deploy police and security forces to secure voting sites.<\/p>\n

Hamas reasserted control of Deir al-Balah and other areas in a stretch of Gaza’s coast from which Israeli forces withdrew under an October 2025 ceasefire. Israel retains control of more than 53% of \u200bGaza.<\/p>\n

Some public opinion polling shows Hamas remains popular \u200bin Gaza and the West Bank, despite \u2060the devastation wrought by the conflict. In Gaza, an October 2025 poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research found that 41% of Palestinians there support Hamas, followed by 29% for Fatah.<\/p>\n

‘A symbolic step’<\/p>\n

The vote comes as US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” pushes a plan for Gaza’s future that would see the territory rebuilt from scratch under the administration of an apolitical committee of Palestinian technocrats.<\/p>\n

The plan calls on \u200bHamas to hand over Gaza \u2060governance to the committee as it lays down its weapons and Israeli forces withdraw from the Strip. Hamas has so far rejected disarmament, accusing Israel of failing to abide by the October ceasefire.<\/p>\n

The plan notably does not mention the West Bank, which, along with the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have long sought for a future state, and where the PA exercises limited self-rule.<\/p>\n

Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said the municipal \u2060elections were “a \u200bsymbolic step to send a message to the world, to the Board of Peace, and to Israel that the \u200bGaza Strip is an inseparable part of the Palestinian political system”.<\/p>\n

For 25-year-old Abdul-Rahman Al-Shaaf, the vote, even at the local level, offers an opportunity to rebuild lives after conflict.<\/p>\n

“Everyone wants to improve the country, especially after two years of \u200bwar, what we witnessed, and the destruction,” he said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palestinians in one of the only Gaza cities not overrun by Israeli ground forces during the military conflict will \u200bvote this weekend in municipal elections that will feature some pro-Hamas candidates, offering a rare barometer of the group’s popularity. The vote in Deir al-Balah is \u200cpart of Palestinian Authority (PA) municipal elections that Palestinians have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}