One mark of a maturing democracy is a high proportion of independent voters, unbeholden to organized factions and attuned to unifying a civic community on shared hopes. In the Middle East, such sentiments have risen in recent years, from Iraq to Lebanon and perhaps soon in a newly liberated Syria.

But in Gaza? After two years of devastating war?

On Saturday, in an election held for the first time anywhere in Gaza in nearly two decades, voters showed a surprising degree of autonomy from the two major Palestinian parties. Balloting was held in only one city, Deir al-Balah, with more than 70,000 people, due to every other city in Gaza being flattened during fighting after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. And voting was only for 15 seats in the municipal council.

In preliminary results, a list of candidates perceived as being Hamas-aligned won only two seats, while a list loosely aligned with the Fatah party of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank won only six. The majority of seats went to two independent Gaza-based groups, Future of Deir al‑Balah and Peace and Construction.

One young Palestinian voter told Le Monde that she wanted a change in governance. “We want to make our voices heard to start a new life,” said Soumaya Abou Obeid.

The leader of the Peace and Construction list of candidates, Mohammed Abu Nasser, told The New Arab that the focus is on practical governance. “This stage requires solutions far from political polarisation,” he said. “We are relying on expertise to address accumulated service failures.”

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The one-city balloting in Gaza was a pilot run organized by the Palestinian Authority, which also ran municipal elections in the West Bank on April 25. The main purpose of the elections, Rami Hamdallah, chair of the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission, told journalists, is to send “a political message that national unity is possible.”

The future of Gaza is still unclear after a ceasefire took effect in October. But if this one election reflects a shift among Palestinians away from Hamas-like confrontation, it was also a shift toward consensus-based governing focused on rebuilding – of both the bombed-out structures of Gaza and a war-torn society seeking reconciliation.