GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian left-wing forces announced their intention to run in the Palestinian local council (municipal) elections slated for Oct. 8, in a unified list of five parties.

This is the first time that left-wing factions run in Palestinian elections as part of a unified list. In the previous Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 these factions ran in separate lists, such as the list of Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Alternative list affiliated with the coalition of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA), the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) and the Independent Palestine list affiliated with the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI).

In a July 28, 2015, interview with a PFLP-affiliated website, Kayed al-Ghul, a member of the PFLP's political bureau, said, “The five left-wing factions — the PFLP, DFLP, PPP, FIDA and PNI — agreed to form a unified list consisting of figures affiliated with the democratic current to participate in the Oct. 8 local council elections.”

He explained that the list will include candidates that are competent and qualified to work in municipalities according to a service-based program that reflects the needs of the people and that makes positive and constructive contributions by exploiting all available resource in an optimal way.