The Palestinian cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, announced on 23 June 2016 a decision to hold municipal elections on 8 October 2016.
[6] According to a statement from the Palestinian Ministers Council, the reason behind the conduct of elections was to "attempt to end national conflict and unite Palestinians in accordance with the law and to pave the road towards holding presidential and legislative elections.
Analysts said Hamas decided to participate in the local elections, taking advantage of Fatah's internal crisis.
[4] In a 28 July 2015 interview of Al-Monitor and Kayed al-Ghul, a PFLP's political bureau member, it was revealed that five Palestinian left-wing factions: PFLP, DFLP, FIDA, PPP and PNI have agreed to form a unified list for the first time in history, consisting of figures chosen by the parties.
Ghul explained that one of the motives of the left-wing parties to create the list was the need to "break the acute polarization between Fatah and Hamas plaguing the Palestinian society" since 2007.
Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the DFLP's political bureau said the left-wing parties had contacts with other factions (such as Hamas and Fatah) but denied any alliance with them.
In the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, the left-wing parties which at the time ran in separated lists obtained 8% of the votes.
Talal Okal, a writer and political analyst said he believes the left-wing parties can rise in the elections.
In contrast, Saleh Abdel Jawad, a professor of political science at Birzeit University and Hani Habib, a political writer for Al-Ayyam newspaper said they are not expecting a great success for the left-wing, as it constitutes a small portion of the Palestinian society.
[7] The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ) announced on 8 August 2016 that it will boycott the upcoming elections, claiming it is not an "appropriate way out of the Palestinian national impasse" and instead called for Hamas to reconcile with its rival faction Fatah and achieve national unity.
[10] The Palestinian Authority announced on 31 January 2017 that the elections will be held on 13 May 2017 in both West Bank and Gaza.
[16] In a statement on August 15, 2016 Fatah spokesman Dr. Fayez Abu Eita declared that municipal subcommittees were working across the country to finalize the lists of candidates before the Central Election Commission deadline.
[20] On August 22, 2016 an independent list for the municipal council of Gaza City, 'Gaza Appeal', was registered with the Central Election Commission.