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Hamas Mulls Boycotting Run-off Polls
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Hamas supporters protest the court ruling outside the Palestinian parliament in Gaza. (Reuters)
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By
Yasser El-Banna, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, May 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Hamas has signaled the
possibility of boycotting the run-off polls of the second phase of
municipal elections and rethinking its decision to run for the first
time in the July-slated parliamentary election unless a fair play is
guaranteed.
“The
group is considering an election boycott unless clear-cut rules are
set to guarantee fair and transparent balloting,” Hamas spokesman
Sami Abu Zehri told IslamOnline.net.
“We
will defend our rights to the end even if we opted for boycotting in
the run-off election,” he added.
“Hamas
sticks to the declared election results and its election win and
rejects Fatah-pressured court rulings, which confiscated our right.”
Abu
Zehri stressed that all options remain open and discussions are still
under way, warning that a boycott decision would take its toll on the
Palestinian political landscape.
On
Thursday, May 19, Hamas rejected a court ruling canceling the vote
results in a number of municipal councils won by the resistance group,
charging the verdicts were “politically-motivated under a judicial
cloak.”
The
court decision called into question Hamas’s victory in seven of 13
council races in the town of Beit Lahiya and its capture of 12 of 13
seats in Bureij refugee camp’s council.
It
echoed a court ruling on Tuesday, May 17, throwing out results in
parts of the southern town of Rafah, where Hamas trounced the
mainstream Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.
International
monitors, however, said on election day they came across no serious
irregularities.
Fatah
has captured about 50 of 84 councils in Gaza and the West Bank.
The
Fatah-praised rulings meant that eligible voters in the disputed areas
would have to recast ballots within 10 days.
Blaming
Fatah
The
Hamas spokesman blamed Fatah for the electoral turmoil.
“We
hoped that the Palestinian electoral process would prove democratic,
but unfortunately Fatah had made more harm than good when it accused
us of forgery and blatantly cancelled the election results,” Abu
Zehri said.
He
stressed that the cancellation of election results is a crucial
decision that should only be taken when absolutely necessary.
“It
is actually a life-or-death decision as lawyers liken it to the
capital punishment verdicts which are only taken by judges when
necessary,” Abu Zehri told IOL.
Hamas
secured a landslide victory in the first-ever Gaza Strip council
elections in January.
Of
the 118 seats on 10 councils, Hamas candidates won over 77 seats or 65
percent against nearly 22 seats or 26 percent for Fatah.
Double
Standards
Abu
Zehri criticized double standards when it comes to the election
results.
“In
the January presidential election, Palestinian judges approved of the
results despite the occurrence of last-minute irregularities, and now
they are making a fuss over one or two votes,” he added.
“Pressures
have been unabashedly exercised on judges to deliver this verdict and
members of election commissions have been threatened, in addition to
the complicity of some members of the electoral executive office
whether by committing perjury or leaking classified documents and
minutes to the plaintiff.”
Abu
Zehri also said that Hamas does in no way hold the Palestinian
judiciary in contempt but it rather rejects “setting up special
courts to review the election results”.
“When
we first accepted the court ruling, we tried to put things into
perspective and preserve Palestinian unity and the image of the
Palestinians in the eyes of the world. But, alas, the other went on
canceling the election results forcing us to take concrete steps to
stop this charade,” he explained.
Abu
Zehri further warned that Hamas might reassess the Egyptian-mediated
understandings reached with the Palestinian Authority in February.
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