Voter registration closed across the West Bank on Sunday ahead of municipal elections on April 25, when Palestinians will cast ballots to elect 420 local councils, a rare democratic exercise in the territory.

Voting will also take place in central Gaza for the Deir al-Balah council, a spokesman for the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission told AFP.

“The elections in both the West Bank and in (Deir el-Balah) Gaza will be organized on April 25,” Farid Tumallah said.

“Registration of candidates will open on February 23 for a period of one week,” he added.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement is widely expected to dominate candidate lists, with the Fatah-dominated PA exercising tight political control.

It remains unclear whether Hamas, the Islamist terror group that still governs parts of the Gaza Strip, will participate.

Hamas boycotted the previous municipal elections held in 2021-2022, after the PA postponed long-overdue parliamentary and presidential polls, deepening an internal Palestinian political split.

Fatah and Hamas relations broke down in 2007, when Hamas........

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