The Election Committee Completes Preparations for Local Elections and Clarifies the Events of Election Day

SadaNews - The Central Elections Commission announced the completion of all necessary arrangements and preparations for the polling and counting day for the 2026 local elections, scheduled to take place tomorrow, Saturday, in the West Bank and the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.

The committee explained that polling centers will open at 7:00 AM in the local authorities where elections will be held, to receive over one million male and female voters to cast their votes until 7:00 PM.

It emphasized that voting is done in person and that voters must carry an identification card to be able to cast their vote, calling on voters to head to the polling stations early to vote and avoid congestion during the evening hours, which may witness crowding at the centers.

It clarified that the voting process in municipal councils involves placing a tick inside the box to the right of only one electoral list and then selecting 5 candidates from the same list. In village councils, the voter selects 5 candidates whose names appear on the ballot paper, stressing that voting maintains the secrecy of the ballot, thus bringing mobile phones is prohibited during voting, and the committee has decided to dispense with the use of electoral ink in the West Bank.

The Election Committee highlighted a series of special measures for voting by illiterate citizens and people with disabilities, allowing them to bring a companion of their choice to assist them in filling out the ballot paper, noting that steps will be taken to ensure that persons with motor disabilities and the elderly can vote at accessible polling stations. It pointed out that special procedures will be implemented to facilitate the work of journalists, observers, and agents.

The committee mentioned that it will hold a press conference on Saturday morning to announce everything related to the events of the electoral process and to respond to journalists' inquiries, and it will announce the participation rate in the local elections for each authority conducting elections periodically every 3 hours on polling day. This data will be broadcasted through display screens in the media center and distributed to accredited media outlets and journalists, as well as on the committee's website and its platforms on social media.

Regarding the counting process, the committee clarified that the counting of votes is conducted within the same polling stations in the presence of any observers, electoral list agents, and journalists who wish to attend, and the results will be documented in a counting report that is posted on the door of the station. The process of aggregating the votes coming from polling centers will take place at the central data entry center.

The Election Committee noted that it will hold a press conference the following day (Sunday, 26/4/2026) to announce the results of the 2026 local elections, including the number of votes and seats attained by each list and the names of the winners from each local authority, alongside the final participation rates in the voting for each local authority. The results will also be published on the committee's website, and these results will be subject to appeal in the Electoral Court within a week.

The committee emphasized the necessity of following the developments of the electoral process and obtaining updated information periodically through its website (www.elections.ps) and its official platforms on social media.