Election Committee Publishes Preliminary List of Candidates for Municipal and Rural Councils

SadaNews - The Central Election Committee announced today, Saturday, the publication of the preliminary list of candidates in the local bodies for the local elections.

It clarified that the list is available to everyone for three days for review via its website, at the committee's headquarters, and at the municipal and rural councils, aiming to enable citizens to review it and submit objections to the lists or candidates if there is a legal reason to allow that.

In Deir al-Balah, the Central Election Committee stated that the publication of the lists will exclusively be at the committee's headquarters and through its official website, due to the inability to display them at the municipality headquarters as is customary in the municipalities of the West Bank, because of the damage and destruction to the municipal building as a result of the war.

Regarding the mechanism for submitting objections, the committee clarified that anyone with an objection to a candidate or electoral list can submit it to the Election Committee using the specific forms during the objection period from March 7 to 9, 2026, while specifying the reasons and attaching supporting evidence and documents. After submitting the objection, the candidate or the objected list will be informed within 48 hours, and they have the right to respond within three days. The committee will study the objection and respond within three days, and the committee’s decision can be appealed before the Election Court within another three days, where the court will issue its final decision no later than five days from the date of the appeal submission.

In conclusion, the committee noted that after examining the lists of candidates in the municipalities and individual candidates in the rural councils, and ensuring that they meet all legal requirements, the number of electoral lists reached 365 lists, while the number of candidates reached 2731 candidates.