Ballot boxes closed Saturday at 7 pm local time (1600GMT) at all polling centers across the occupied West Bank, where people voted to elect local council representatives.
An Anadolu correspondent reported that vote counting began immediately after polling stations closed.
Palestine's Central Elections Commission said in a statement that all polling centers shut on time, allowing only voters already inside stations to cast their ballots.
Voter turnout reached 40.62% by 5 pm local time (1400GMT) in the West Bank, including Deir al-Balah municipality in central Gaza, the commission added.
Polling stations in Deir al-Balah closed earlier at 6 pm local time (1500GMT), according to an earlier statement issued by the commission.
Earlier Saturday, 491 polling centers with 1,922 stations opened at 7 am local time (0400GMT) to receive about 1.03 million voters, who chose representatives for 183 local bodies.
These include 90 municipal councils, including Deir al-Balah, contested by 3,773 candidates, as well as 93 village councils contested by 1,358 candidates.
For the first time in 22 years, voting was held in Deir al-Balah, where residents cast ballots, as the city is relatively less damaged than other parts of Gaza following the Israeli genocide.
A ceasefire was reached after two years of war that began in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians and injuring over 172,000, while causing widespread destruction to about 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
The elections come amid an ongoing Palestinian political divide since 2007, underscoring their importance for local governance despite the absence of legislative and presidential elections.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
