Elections for 403 local authorities in Palestine were held on April 25, 2026. These elections took place in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Domestic civil society organizations, private individuals, and international journalists were permitted to apply to become observers of the elections.
The voter registration process, also subject to observation, took place in January. Registrants must be: of Palestinian nationality aged 17 or older (born on or before January 24, 2009) a resident of the local authority of registration for at least six months before the election of full legal capacity Individuals applied for registration online via the Central Elections Commission website, in person at a voter registration center, or at a District Electoral Office (with exceptions).
The fifteen-member Election Cases Court was created on December 25, 2025, by presidential decree-law.
Supporters of president Abbas won a majority of contested seats including some in Gaza's Deir al-Balah. One of the Deir al-Balah lists, largely seen as Hamas-aligned, won only two of the 15 seats contested in Gaza.
Timeline The Central Elections Commission describes the electoral process in five stages.
Registration stageExhibition & challenges stageNomination stageElectoral campaigning stagePolling day January 20–24 February 7–9 February 23 – March 1 April 10–23 April 25 5 days 3 days 7 days 14 days 1 day
Council seats by locality type The Ministry of Local Government published a list of localities for which elections are scheduled by council type and number of seats, in addition to summary seat counts by governorate and council type.Topic: The list detailing the number of council members of local authorities
District Number of local authorities by classification Municipal Council Village Council(9 seats) Total Number ofLocal Authorities Total Numberof Seats Class A(15 seats) Class B(13 seats) Class C(11 seats) TotalJerusalem 0 2 17 19 10 29 303Jenin 1 4 11 16 54 70 674Tulkarem 1 2 9 12 18 30 302Tubas 1 1 1 3 11 14 138Nablus 1 2 8 11 46 57 543Qalqilya 1 0 4 5 22 27 257Salfit 1 0 8 9 9 18 184Ramallah and Al-Bireh 2 6 12 20 51 71 699Jericho 1 0 2 3 5 8 82Bethlehem 1 2 11 14 23 37 369Hebron 1 14 9 24 35 59 611Northern Gaza 1 2 1 4 0 4 52Gaza 1 0 3 4 0 4 48Deir Al-Balah 1 4 2 7 0 7 89Khan Younis 1 3 3 7 0 7 87Rafah 1 0 2 3 0 3 37 West Bank total 11 33 92 136 284 420 4162 Gaza Strip total 5 9 11 25 0 25 313Total 16 42 103 161 284 445 4475
Note from the Central Elections Commission: "Refugee camps in the Gaza Strip[...] are listed under the municipalities and participate in local elections, therefore, [they were] added as communities affiliated with their surrounding local authorities. There are 8 refugee camps in the Gaza Strip (4 in Deir Al-Balah, and 1 in each of the other [governorates]."
Religious seat allocation A presidential decree-law issued on January 11, 2026, mandating religious quotas for certain municipalities. Mayoral seats are indirectly elected from within the councils themselves.
Local authorityChristian seatsMuslim seatsMayoral seatRamallah Municipality 8 7 ChristianBethlehem Municipality 8 7 ChristianBeit Sahur Municipality 10 3 ChristianBeit Jala Municipality 10 3 ChristianBerzeit Municipality 7 6 ChristianAz Zababida Municipality 7 4 Christian'Abud Village Council 5 4 Christian'Jifna Village Council 7 2 Christian'Ein 'Arik Village Council 5 4 ChristianBirqin Municipality 1 10 MuslimJericho Municipality 1 14 Muslim
Notes
References