The Faculty of Graduate Studies awarded the researcher Rameh Tayseer Nathmi Mesmar a Master’s Degree in Planning & Political Development in response to his thesis entitled “Role of Social Media in Shaping the Electoral Behavior of West Bank in the 2017 Local Elections”.

The purpose of the study was to identify the role of the social media in shaping the electoral behavior of voters in the West Bank in the local elections of 2017.

The problem of the study was to find out the role of social media, especially Facebook, on shaping the electoral behavior for voters in the West Bank in local elections (2017).

The study examined the main hypothesis: There is a relationship between the intensity of respondent's use of social media especially (Facebook) and their exposure to candidates' campaigns through these sites and their attitudes towards participating in them and selecting their candidates. The study population consists of 420234 voters in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Center for the year 2016, and the researcher selected a random class sample composed of (450) voters. the researcher used the statistical to analyze the data.

The study came out with several results includes:

1. The study showed that the degree of areas of social media role in shaping the electoral behavior of West Bank voters in the 2017 local elections was statistically significant.
2. The study showed that the degree of the role of the social networks in shaping the electoral behavior was statistics significant (3.35).

In light of these findings, the researchers recommended several recommendations:

1. Encourage civil society institutions and interested parties to expand their activities to support and increase confidence in social media.
2. More social media sites should expand their activities to inform the public of the usefulness and role of social media.

The committee consisted of: Dr. Hasan Ayoub as a main supervisor and Chairman, Dr. Netham Salahat as an external examiner and Dr. Raed Nerat as an internal examiner.

At the end of the session, the committee approved the success of the researcher and recommended him a Master’s degree.