On 25 April, half a million Palestinians cast their ballots for municipal and village councils across the West Bank and in the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, voter turnout stood at 56 per cent in the West Bank (roughly similar to the last polls in 2022), though numbers varied widely among localities. Deir al-Balah – which remains relatively intact from the war and held its first election in 20 years – recorded a 23 per cent turnout based on an outdated civil registry. Most of the candidate lists were affiliated with Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), or were independent. Hamas and several smaller factions boycotted the ballot, though the former assisted the poll in Gaza with logistics and security.

Local elections in Palestine generally focus more on public services than national politics, with family and tribal relations factoring into many voters’ decisions. Still, in the absence of legislative and presidential elections since 2006, these contests have offered Palestinians a rare democratic outlet. They are widely seen as barometers of public opinion toward Fatah and Hamas, and often feature nonpartisan or younger candidates – including within Fatah’s ranks – seeking to challenge the old guard.

But even by these limited standards this year’s polls were skewed. In 2025, President Mahmoud Abbas instituted new legal and technical requirements to run for elections, and obliged parties to commit to the program and agreements of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the PA’s parent organisation, which Fatah dominates. The terms are designed to exclude Hamas, but also hurt other factions and individuals that dispute the PLO’s positions. Many prospective candidates thus refused to participate. While 183 localities saw a mix of Fatah and independent wins, another 197 were uncontested and won by acclamation, including in Ramallah and Nablus. The PA dubiously claims these results reflect popular endorsement of its platform.

Those with modest hopes of improving municipal services will likely be disappointed. Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, Israel has strangled the Palestinian economy and depleted the PA’s revenues, which it tightly controls through the Oslo Accords. Health workers, teachers and other public employees have gone months without full pay. Israeli settlements and checkpoints are de facto shrinking the areas the PA and Palestinian municipalities govern. Escalating settler and army attacks are gutting any sense of safety. Gaza is still in ruins, its ravaged population fearing war could resume at any moment.

Conscious of its sinking domestic legitimacy, the PA appears eager to show signs of “reform” to placate European and Arab donors and persuade the U.S. to involve Ramallah in ceasefire plans for Gaza. Further elections are scheduled for Fatah’s party apparatus (14 May) and the PLO’s national council (1 November), and a new interim constitution is in the works. President Abbas has dubbed this a “year of Palestinian democracy”. But as conditions collapse around them, many Palestinians are sceptical of that slogan and what it will change.