For decades Nablus was a Fatah stronghold but the party's grip on the city is slipping in the face of Hamas.
Under the grey Nablus winter sky, there's plenty to be gloomy about for the Palestinian-ruling party Fatah.
The city's Martyrs Square is festooned with banners and posters of the parties standing in this month's elections. But it's the green banners of Hamas, displaying verses from the Koran, that catch the eye.
Once a traditional Fatah stronghold, this Roman-founded city is falling to Hamas. Last month, Hamas routed Fatah taking 74 % of the municipal vote in Nablus.
Of all the West Bank cities, Nablus has suffered the most through the second Palestinian intifada.
Israeli incursions and curfews have been a daily part of life in this city known for producing suicide bombers who attack Israeli cities and towns. The city's economy has collapsed.
Sea change
Dominated by Fatah for decades, Nablus politics is undergoing a sea change.
Traditional Fatah voters in Nablus - and across the West Bank - are tired of what they see as the corruption and growing lawlessness under the party and some are willing to give Hamas a chance, says our correspondent.
This is the first legislative elections that Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by the EU and America, are contesting and they are expected to take a least a third of the vote, according to recent opinion polls.
In public, the Fatah party welcomes Hamas participation in the elections.
From his office perched high on a valley side overlooking Nablus, former Fatah City Mayor Ghassan al-Shakah says he believes that Hamas' participation is ‘good for democracy.’
Surrounded by framed photographs of himself and Yasser Arafat, Mr Shakah says that Fatah are willing to work with Hamas as ‘partners’.
Seat of power
On Fatah's recent election woes in the city, Mr Shakah, who is running on the Fatah list in Wednesday's elections, insists that ruling-party Fatah is not corrupt. He blames the power of office as the corrupting force rather than the party itself.
Mr Shakah says he's confident of a Fatah victory at the polls and sees Hamas participation as a Fatah victory because he believes Hamas are tacitly accepting the 1993 Oslo Accords.
While Fatah may appear upbeat, there is anxiety among party ranks according to political geographer Saed Abu Hijleh at the city's Najah university.
‘Fatah members are trying to reassure themselves but many of them are going to lose their seats,’ Mr Hijleh says.
In Martyrs square, Adly Yaish appears a popular man. As the new mayor of the city, he presses the flesh, shaking hands and offering pats on the back to admirers.
Mr Yaish, an auto-part dealer, is not a member of Hamas but he strongly supports the party and the party supports him.
He pegs Hamas' success to ‘clean hands’, accountability to the people, and social services such as education and health. In contrast to the secular Fatah party, he also stresses Hamas Islamic beliefs as part of their success.
‘To make the streets cleaner is part of our religion,’ he says.
Among potential voters in Wednesday's election, there is a belief that for the first time in a Palestinian election there is a choice.
Taxi driver Ghazi Abu Kashek, 43, says he normally votes Fatah but is willing to give Hamas a chance.
‘Now there is a real choice and it is our dream that we have that choice,’ he says.
But 55-year-old Abdel Halem Tawfik, waiting for labouring work in the Nablus town centre, will not be voting. ‘None of them are useful for the nation,’ he says.