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GAZA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian candidates started Tuesday the registration for municipal elections slated for Oct. 8 in the Palestinian territories, the elections committee said.
The registration will continue until Aug. 25, Hisham Kuhail, Palestinian Central Elections Commission's executive director, told Xinhua.
Individual candidates are not allowed to apply, Kuhail said, pointing out that the commission only accepts lists.
Five Palestinian left-wing factions announced that they will run in the elections on a single list named the "Democratic Coalition."
The left-wing group list was officially registered on Tuesday at the commission office in Gaza.
The five groups are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front (PFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Union, the People Party and the Palestinian National Initiative Party.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Party also announced that it has already prepared its list of candidates under the name of "the Outstanding, Partnership and Development."
Islamic Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, said it will prepare a list of candidates and run in the elections.
According to the elections commission, there are 391 municipal councils in the West Bank, including the Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and 25 municipal councils in the Gaza Strip.
The number of Palestinians who have the right to vote in is 1,951,799, representing 78.6 percent of the populations in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
