West Bank municipal elections set for July

February 09, 2010|Karin Laub, Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government decided yesterday to hold municipal elections in the West Bank in July, the first voting since Abbas’s Fatah movement was trounced by the militant Islamic Hamas in national polls four years ago.

Abbas’s rivals in Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, signaled they will not participate in the July 17 election, virtually guaranteeing that Fatah will reclaim key cities where Hamas won in the last round of local elections five years ago. But a Hamas boycott would also probably exclude Gaza from the voting and diminish the potential of the election to compare the present strengths of the bitter rivals.

Presidential and legislative elections were to have taken place in January, but are on hold because of a deepening Palestinian split. Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, expelling Fatah forces and leaving Abbas with only the West Bank. Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed.

Municipal elections could help shore up the fading popularity of Abbas, who was elected in 2005 and has exceeded his term.

Fatah took a drubbing from Hamas in parliamentary elections in 2006, largely because voters wanted to punish Fatah for years of corruption, arrogance, and mismanagement.

The Abbas government decided yesterday that elections will be held in dozens of West Bank communities with more than 5,000 residents. The voting will take place in stages, with the first towns voting July 17, said Mohammed Ishtayeh, Palestinian Cabinet minister.

“It will be open to any person who wants to participate, including [those from] Hamas,’’ Ishtayeh said.