Gaza voters want jobs and security as Palestinian elections approach

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are heading into national legislative elections scheduled for November 28 with practical concerns at the forefront. Many voters say their main expectations from candidates are concrete improvements in employment, security, housing, education and healthcare after years of blockade and a war that devastated the territory. For younger voters like Ahmad Mohsen, 24, freshly graduated but pushed into informal work by the conflict, stable wages and personal security top the list of demands.

Older residents who remember the 2006 vote express a mix of nostalgia and skepticism. Ghassan Marwan, 53, recalled the transparency of the 2006 polls but said the subsequent two decades of violence and economic collapse have left many Palestinians disillusioned. Marwan lost his home and factory in January 2024 and now lives with the daily hardship of displacement, describing reconstruction, calm and a return to stable livelihoods as his primary hopes.

Organizers face significant logistical and security obstacles in staging the vote across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The Palestinian Central Elections Commission estimates about 1.24 million Gaza residents will be eligible to vote and has warned that election preparations are complicated by widespread destruction and mass displacement. The commission has drawn up contingency plans to produce materials locally should restrictions block supplies from entering Gaza.

Analysts based in Gaza say the war has reshaped political expectations: residents now measure politicians by their capacity to restore normal life and rebuild infrastructure rather than by institutional promises or rhetoric. While interest in politics has not disappeared, many Palestinians are preoccupied with meeting basic needs and view material recovery as the yardstick for judging elected leaders' performance.