West Bank elections: Fatah towards victory but narrowly ahead in Gaza

With 95% of the ballots counted, the Palestinian municipal elections held on Saturday saw a substantial victory for Fatah. However, they also certify the emergence of a number of independent candidate lists, identified with the internal opposition of the party of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), 90 years old and in office since 2005, against whom polls over the years have shown a general discontent, contesting the lack of renewal of leadership and corruption.

Even before the announcement of the preliminary results, Fatah had declared in the morning that its 'Resilience and Generosity' electoral lists had achieved ''an overwhelming victory'', describing the result as ''a popular referendum endorsing its political programme and national vision''.

Fatah thus won in the West Bank important municipalities such as Hebron, Tulkarem, Salfit, and Al-Bireh, while in Ramallah and Nablus the result was obtained 'by acclamation', the party said, as no competing list was presented, rendering the election effectively superfluous.

In Deir el Balah - the only city in the Gaza Strip where elections were held, for the first time since the 2007 Hamas coup that led to the expulsion of PNA representation from the enclave - two lists affiliated with the Palestinian Authority won 8 seats, while two lists opposing Fatah won 7 seats.

Formally, Hamas did not participate in the elections, although some of the candidates on one of the four lists are considered affiliated with the militia.