In Pilot Election, Palestinians Vote for First Time in Years

Palestinians lined up outside polls in tents and donated buildings on Saturday to vote in the first elections held in part of Gaza in more than two decades. More than 70,000 people are eligible to vote for municipal government in Deir al-Balah, a central Gaza city that has been damaged by airstrikes but was spared an Israeli ground invasion. The single-city vote is a largely symbolic "pilot," election officials say, part of an effort to politically link Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Palestinians see both as integral to any future path to statehood, the AP reports.

Although the turnout was low, those who cast votes said they were driven to the polls by a near-total absence of public services amid the devastation after more than two years of war. "I came to vote because I have a right to elect members to municipal council so they can provide us with services," Ashraf Abu Dan said outside his Deir al-Balah polling place. There and throughout the occupied West Bank, voting will determine the makeup of local councils tasked with overseeing water, roads, and electricity. Voters said they want a say over decision-making in their cities. "Municipal laws need to be enforced so people feel there's justice," Khalid al-Qawasmeh, a voter in the West Bank city of Beitunia, said outside his polling place in the West Bank city of Beitunia. His finger was inked blue to mark having voted.