RAMALLAH, West Bank - The next phase of local Palestinian elections will take place on May 5 in more than 80 municipalities across the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank, the electoral commission said Thursday.
It will be the second phase of local polls that began in December and are set to be completed by August -- after separate legislative elections in July.
Voting is to take place in 76 electoral districts in the West Bank and another eight in the Gaza Strip, local elections commission head Jamal al-Shobaki told a news conference.
The first round of municipal elections took place in December in 26 districts in the West Bank, and another 11 in the Gaza Strip in January.
Islamist fundamentalist movement Hamas, which participated in elections for the first time, romped to victory in the Gaza Strip in January and ran neck and neck with the mainstream Fatah party in the West Bank.
In the next round, only four major towns, Qalqilya and Salfit in the West Bank and Rafah and Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip, will take part in the vote. The other districts compromise villages or small towns.
Around 400,000 enfranchised Palestinians will be eligible to elect councillors from more than 2,500 candidates, among them 399 women. Around 3,000 Palestinian police will be deployed to ensure security on election day, Shobaki said.
The third and final round of municipal elections, the first in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1976, will take place in August.
04/28/2005 12:43 GMT