The Democratic Alliance List ( ar, قائمة التحالف الديمقراطي), also referred to as the Democratic Alliance Forces () or just the Democratic Alliance (), was a coalition launched before the Palestinian local government elections that were initially scheduled for October 2016, consisting of five left-wing Palestinian factions: *

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

(PFLP) *

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organi ...

(DFLP) *

Palestinian People's Party The Palestinian People's Party (PPP; ar, حزب الشعب الفلسطيني ''Hizb al-Sha'b al-Filastini''), founded in 1982 as the Palestinian Communist Party, is a socialist political party in Palestine and among the Palestinian diaspora. ...

(PPP) *

Palestinian Democratic Union The Palestinian Democratic Union ( ar, الاتحاد الديمقراطي الفلسطيني ''Al-Ittihad al-Dimuqrati al-Filastini''), generally known as FIDA ( ar, فدا) is a small Palestinian political party active in the Palestine Liberati ...

(Fida), and *

Palestinian National Initiative Palestinian National Initiative ( ar, المبادرة الوطنية الفلسطينية ''al-Mubādara al-Waṭaniyya al-Filasṭīniyya'') is a Palestinian political party led by Mustafa Barghouti. Its formation was formally announced on 17 ...

(PNI) along with several unaffiliated independent candidates.Wattan
فيديو.. قوى التحالف الديمقراطي تعلن خوضها الانتخابات المحلية
/ref> The Alliance was led by a Central Committee and an Advisory Board.Palestine News Network
التحالف الديمقراطي يعلن الانتهاء من تشكيل قائمته لانتخابات بلدية الخليل
Mohammed Hamarsheh was named coordinator of the Alliance.

Launch

The Alliance was presented at a press conference in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

on 10 August 2016, chaired by

Mustafa Barghouti Mustafa Barghouti ( ar, مصطفى البرغوثي; born 1 January 1954) is a Palestinian physician, activist, and politician who serves as General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), also known as al Mubadara. He has been ...

(General Secretary PNI),

Qais Abd al-Karim Qais Abd al-Karim ( ar, قيس عبد الكريم), also known as Abu Layla or Qays Samarra’i, is a leading Palestinian activist of Iraqi origin. He is a leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and a member of the Palest ...

(Deputy General Secretary DFLP),

Bassam as-Salhi Bassam Al-Salhi ( ar, بسام الصالحي, born 1960) is a General Secretary of the Palestinian People's Party and elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He was the party's candidate for President of the Palestinian Authority ...

(General Secretary PPP),

Khalida Jarrar Khalida Jarrar ( ar, خالدة جرار; born 9 February 1963) is a Palestinian politician.David Hearst,INTERVIEW: Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar,' Middle East Eye 2 April 2015 She is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Pa ...

(PFLP), and Zahira Kamal (Fida). Jarrar stressed that the alliance would act as a third force, seeking to overcome the

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

dichotomy. Its candidature was officially registered with the Central Election Commission on 16 August 2016, the first day of registrations.Sawa
تسجيل قائمة التحالف الديمقراطي لدى لجنة الانتخابات
/ref>Palestine News Network
“قائمة التحالف الديمقراطي” تسجل رسميا لدى لجنة الانتخابات لخوض الانتخابات المحلية
The Alliance was assigned the letter

Aleph Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez . These letter ...

(أ), the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, as its ballot symbol.

Campaign and lists

On the night of 23 August 2016, unknown gunmen reportedly opened fire on the residence of Nureddin Khalaf, the top candidate of the Alliance in Burqin municipality,

Jenin Governorate The Jenin Governorate ( ar, محافظة جنين, Muḥāfaẓat Ǧanīn) is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine. It covers the northern extremity of the West Bank, including the area around the city of Jenin. During the first six months of th ...

. On 25 August 2016, the Alliance submitted to the Central Election Commission its candidate list for the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, and indicated that

Majida Al-Masri Majida al-Masri ( ar, ماجدة المصري, full name: ) is a Palestinian politician. She is a politburo member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. and a leader of the DFLP in the Nablus area. In the 2006 parliamentary ...

would head its list in the

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

municipality. In the

Jenin Jenin (; ar, ') is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate of the State of Palestine and is a major center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, Jenin had a population of app ...

municipality, the Alliance nominated PNI activist Mohammad Abu Al-Hija as its top candidate. In the

Al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It i ...

municipality, the Alliance declared that they were continuing the work of the previous 'Al-Bireh for All' list from past elections. Jamal Al-Nasar was named number-one on the Alliance list in the municipality.Palestine News Network
تسجيل قائمة التحالف الديمقراطي لانتخابات بلدية البيرة

Postponement of polls

On 8 September 2016, the Ramallah High Court of Justice postponed the local elections indefinitely. The Democratic Alliance List and its constituent parties criticized the court ruling.Alternative Information Center.
Palestinian Supreme Court freezes municipal elections in West Bank, Gaza
''

Election results

At the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, which took place on 13 May 2017, the Alliance won 5 of the 3,253 contested seats, gaining 0.32% of the votes.

Symbol

The symbol of the Democratic Alliance List resembles a

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

in Palestinian national colours with the head shaped as the ballot symbol of the list, the letter

. The text reads "Palestine deserves the Democratic Alliance".

References

{{Palestinian political parties 2016 establishments in the State of Palestine 2010s disestablishments in the State of Palestine Defunct left-wing political party alliances Defunct political party alliances in the Palestinian territories Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine Political opposition organizations Political parties established in 2016 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Socialist parties in the Palestinian territories