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Palestinians Delay Re-Election to Defuse Tensions
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“There
are no guarantees to secure honest reelection,” Abu Zuhri (R)
said. (Reuters)
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By
Yasser El-Banna, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, May 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - A partial Palestinian municipal
re-election was put off Tuesday, May 31, after the Islamic resistance
movement Hamas decided to boycott the run-off race for fear of foul
play.
“We
have decided to delay the elections until further notice in keeping
with a request to avoid all problems on the Palestinian street,”
Jamal Shobaki, chairman of the Local Electoral Commission, told
reporters.
The
umbrella committee of the Palestinian factions earlier called for
delaying the re-election to defuse tensions between Hamas and the
mainstream Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Committee
chairman Ibrahim Abul Naja urged in an impromptu press conference to
listen to reason and put the dialogue back on track to settle pending
differences, suggesting delaying a vote originally scheduled for
Wednesday, June 1.
“The
committee does respect the original date of the re-election, but the
homeland’s interests should be given a priority,” he said.
Member
of Fatah’s Central Committee Samir Meshharawi said his movement
agreed to delay the run-off election “to preserve the Palestinian
unity and in compliance with the call of the umbrella committee.”
“Fatah
is keen, just like Hamas, on having guarantees to make the re-election
a success,” he told a press conference. “We want a competitive
electoral process engaging all Palestinian factions.”
Hamas
won by a small majority in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Beit Lahia
to the north and the central Al-Bureij refugee camp on May 5.
But
two court rulings cancelled the vote results in these areas, which
prompted Hamas to charge that the verdict was “politically-motivated
under a judicial cloak.”
Hamas
cited counts by international monitors, who did not report
irregularities on election day.
Fatah
has captured about 50 of 84 councils in
Gaza
and the
West Bank
.
Fair
Play
Hamas
spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, in statements to IslamOnline.net, welcomed
Abul Naja’s delay call, saying there is more than a chance to have a
fair and timely re-election.
Earlier
in the day, Hamas announced its boycott decision, urging the
Palestinians in the disputed areas to spurn the re-election.
“Hamas
decided not to take part in what is another vote in Rafah, Beit Lahia
and Al-Bureij,” Abu Zuhri told reporters. “We call on our people
to boycott these elections and not recognize their results.”
Abu
Zuhri said that Hamas reacted positively to efforts aimed at
cushioning the repercussions of the court rulings to preserve the
unity of the Palestinians and the democratic process in the
territories.
He
criticized Fatah for insisting on the re-vote was held on Wednesday
and reiterated that Hamas first wanted guarantees that they would be
fair.
Abu
Zuhri further revealed that Hamas and Fatah, through marathon talks,
agreed to delay the re-election for one month in the presence of
members of the umbrella committee.
“We
agreed on certain guarantees with the Egyptian delegation and Fatah
regarding the re-election, but Fatah retreated from the agreement last
night [May 30]. So there are no guarantees to secure honest
re-election,” Abu Zuhri said.
The
showdown came after Egyptian mediators, led by deputy intelligence
chief Gen. Mostafa El-Bihiri, spent a week in the occupied territories
on a mission to defuse rumbling disagreements between both movements.
Forgery
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Hamas
said Fatah backtracked on what has been agreed upon during the
Cairo-mediated talks. (Reuters)
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Abu
Zuhri further said there is every possibility that the re-election
would be subject to forgery.
“Tomorrow,
the voters will go to cast their ballots and register their names in
[civil] electoral tallies that are already full of names of dead
people and passengers,” he said.
“The
voters will go to the polling stations which are supervised by a
commission whose integrity is questionable. Many votes have been
bought out in return for a meager sum of money.”
He
continued: “We don’t shy away from any election, but we reject
forgery.”
At
his press conference, Abul Naja said the election law will be amended
in accordance to the Cairo Declaration in February.
“The
legislative council has also decided to cancel the civil registration
system as the basis for elections,” he said.
Abul
Naja added that the Electoral Commission has extended for another
month a registration deadline to encourage eligible voters to step
forward.
On
whether Hamas would run in the upcoming legislative election, Abu
Zuhri would not elaborate, saying that “every session has a
different discussion.”
Members
of Fatah have already called for the July 17 legislative election to
be delayed, amid increasing fears that Hamas could make sweeping
gains, cutting into Fatah's power base.
Hassan
Abu Hashish, a Palestinian political analyst, said Hamas’s boycott
decision would have a domino effect on the entire electoral process.
“The
boycott of any election by Hamas, to be honest, undermines its
importance and makes it non-representative,” he told IOL.
“The
boycott will definitely throw a spanner in the electoral wheel and
render it insignificant as it will only tighten the grip of the ruling
party.”
Hamas’s
move coincided another showdown with Abbas after the latter’s call
on the resistance movement to “renounce violence.”
Abbas's
call was aired in an interview on US television shortly before an
Israeli drone fired a rocket at two Islamic Jihad activists, injuring
two Palestinian girls.
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