ZEITA, West Bank, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Palestinian women said they had braved ostracism by their families and death threats to run the first all-female slate in municipal elections in the West Bank on Thursday.

The five candidates on the list of the left-wing, secular People's Party in the town of Zeita defied Islamic tradition that has restricted most Palestinian women to work at home.

"We are trying to stop the marginalisation of women and give them a chance to serve their community," Rayya Tayyem, the candidate topping the list dubbed "Wow", said as Palestinians voted in a final round of town elections across the West Bank.

Tayyem and her colleagues believe the Muslim conservatism of Palestinian villages did not necessarily mean residents were doctrinaire and that many privately would like to see a woman run the Zeita municipality.

But they said their families had shunned or disowned them after coming under pressure from Hamas Islamists and members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's mainstream Fatah faction to convince their daughters and sisters to withdraw.

"My brothers and family members have been threatened by Hamas and Fatah people that we would be killed and they would be hurt if we didn't drop out of the race," Tayyem said.

"We came under a lot of pressure from our families. Some of us were disowned by our fathers. But we have resisted the pressure," said candidate Kiffaya Tayyem, Rayya's cousin.

DENIAL

Ibrahim Tayyem, Hamas' campaign manager in Zeita, denied his faction had threatened women candidates. "This is not true. Hamas respects women and different viewpoints. We do not object to women voting or running as candidates," he told Reuters.

Rayya Tayyem said the women's slate was backed by their husbands, who campaigned for them and monitored polling stations in Zeita, a central West Bank town on the boundary with Israel.

She heads a women's charity. Others on her slate are housewives. The husbands of all but one are unemployed.

The Palestinian local election law requires that women hold two seats per council. Election officials say 224 women were elected to local councils in the first two phases of the vote earlier this year. Only one got enough votes to become mayor.

But women have lacked prominent spots on party lists and had little chance of obtaining any positions in case of a victory.

"Our aim is not to fight men but to get posts we wouldn't otherwise get if we were on other lists," Kiffayah Tayyem said.

Some Palestinian women say their marginalisation in local councils and a takeover of some municipalities by Hamas could hinder the development of Palestinian towns and villages.

The new Hamas-dominated council in the West Bank town of Qalqilya has tried to impose a strict Islamic code of public conduct, for example by banning a musical festival in July.

Adnan Sliyeh, 45, a Zeita town official and Fatah voter, said it was not right for women to run municipalities.

"Running a local council isn't an easy job and with all due respect to women, they are incapable of carrying out this job, especially in light of our traditions," Sliyeh said.

More than 144,000 Palestinians voted on Thursday in local elections, seen as a testing ground for Hamas as it prepares to run in a January parliamentary poll for the first time.