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Hamas Wins Landslide Victory in Gaza Local Polls
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Voter turnout topped 80 percent for the local poll.
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Additional
Reporting by Mustafa el-Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
, January 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Palestinian
resistance movement Hamas secured a landslide victory in the
first-ever Gaza Strip council elections, according to unofficial
results Friday, January 28.
Of
the 118 seats on 10 councils, candidates from the Islamic resistance
movement’s list won just over 77 seats or 65 percent against nearly
22 seats or 26 percent for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah
movement.
The
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) won one seat, and
some other seats went to independent candidates.
All
other factions failed to secure any seats. But Al-Jazeera said three
of the independent winners are affiliated to Islamic Jihad group.
Voter
turnout topped 80 percent for the local poll -- considerably higher
than at the presidential election for a successor to Yasser Arafat
which was boycotted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Hamas
made a strong showing in municipal elections in the West Bank last
month and the group had been expected to do even better in Gaza, where
1.4 million Palestinians live in often dire poverty.
Key
Test
The
local poll was seen as a key test of support for the Islamic
movements, which boycotted the January 9 presidential election that
Abbas won by a landslide on a platform of ending violence in order to
allow new statehood talks with Israel.
Hamas
has won many hearts not only for being at the forefront of the
fighting against occupation forces but also for charities that help
needy Palestinians in the absence of government support, according to
Reuters.
“It
was a competition for the purpose of serving the Palestinian people
and creating a better life,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri,
reacting to the poll results.
“We
see this as a victory for the Palestinian people.”
Hamas
had campaigned on a strong anti-corruption ticket, amid widespread
disillusionment among voters about the incompetence and cronyism which
has characterized many councils.
Mushir
Al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas, said the results were a damning
indictment of the levels of institutional corruption.
“This
means that the Palestinian people reject corruption and hope for
change to protect its interests,” he told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
Fatah,
which dominates the Palestinian Authority, did not comment immediately
on the unofficial results.
The
electoral commission was due to make an official announcement later
Friday.
Power
Share
Political
analysts say that by taking part in the municipal elections, Hamas has
demonstrated its claim to a share of power ahead of Israel's planned
withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas
is still debating whether to take part in July parliamentary elections
that could also bring the group closer to the political mainstream,
but officials were upbeat after the Gaza poll.
“The
results showed that our people are insisting Hamas take part in the
upcoming ballot,” Abu Zuhri said.
Hamas'
top leader, Khaled Meshaal, told The Associated Press Tuesday that his
group is ready to suspend attacks on Israel if it stops targeting
resistance leaders and frees Palestinian detainees -- much to bring
the group closer to the Abbas government seeking an end to attacks
against Israel.
In
December, more than 140,000 electors voted to elect 306 seats in local
council for the town of Jericho and 25 villages in the West Bank.
There were 886 candidates, including 139 women.
Local
government minister Jamal Shobaki said a further round of municipal
elections would be held on April 28, giving around 50 percent of the
whole population of the West Bank and Gaza an opportunity to exercise
their democratic right.
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