(Burqin) In the village of Burqin in the occupied West Bank, candidates for the municipal elections on Saturday bring a final touch to their 100% female campaign, with new electoral gadgets: pocket mirrors slipped into pink backpacks emblazoned with their logo.
Like a snub to the patriarchal and clan tradition which still leaves little room for women in politics, they baptized their list “Qaderat”, “capable” in Arabic.
For Saba Kahlouf, one of the postulants, women are no different from men and this feminine list is a way of “proving their existence”.
Municipalities are officially held on Saturday in 376 villages in the West Bank, but 162 present only one list of candidates and in 60 localities no one has declared himself. For cities, a second phase will be organized in March.
As in the last ballot in 2017, the elections will not be held in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement Hamas in power refuses to organize any poll as long as the Palestinian Authority, in power in the West Bank, does not. will not authorize the holding of legislative and presidential elections.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, 86, canceled in January these two polls which were to take place in the year and be the first national elections in 15 years, arguing that their holding was not “guaranteed” in East Jerusalem, Palestinian portion of the Holy City annexed by Israel.
Hamas strongly condemned this decision, further strengthening the long fratricidal struggle between the two camps.
On Saturday, the municipal elections should not shed light on the popularity of one camp or another since Hamas is not presenting candidates and most of the participants present themselves without a label.
But for the eight candidates of “Qaderat”, the poll is still an opportunity to advance Palestinian politics, in which women remain marginalized.
“We believe in the capacity of women. In every field where there are women, they are crowned with success, ”says Saba Khalouf, in the courtyard of a house where she and her co-listers of all ages are fine-tuning their program.
Threats of Divorce
In Burqin, six lists compete for 11 seats in the municipality. In the streets of the village of 8000 inhabitants, the banner of “Qaderat” stands out: it is the only one without the photos of the candidates, who preferred to put a colored logo, the drawing of a woman’s face in profile.
“The list changed 18 times before being finalized because of pressure on women, sometimes even threats of divorce from some husbands,” said Abdelbasset Khalaf, who helped draw up the list.
Others had to withdraw due to pressure from relatives registered on rival electoral lists, adds candidate Renad Abbas, a social worker.
“When the idea first surfaced, we were faced with a lot of problems,” she recalls.
“We know that new ideas arouse opposition and surprise, but we persist in our desire to develop our village,” she adds, while the modernization of infrastructure is at the top of the list, which presents a project called “Burqin 2040”.
“I am sure that women have a greater aptitude for community work than men,” said the husband of one of the candidates, who did not wish to give his name, but wished them “a resounding victory in the elections”.
For analyst Jihad Harb, the “Qaderat” list is a sign of the frustration of Palestinian women, “ignored in the decision-making process”.
The electoral law stipulates that the lists must include 25% women and more than 1,500 women must compete on Saturday. But only nine are top of the list and the other candidates are often placed at the end of the list, which prevents them from taking part in the facts.
One of the objectives of the list is “to ensure greater participation [féminine] than what is provided for by the electoral law ”and pave the way for other women, explains Saba Kahlouf, lecturer in geography.
Asked about the mirrors she distributes, she explains that they are not intended to allow voters to powder their noses, but to take a last look before slipping a ballot into the urn.