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Hamas Wins "Big" in Local Polls Finale
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Hamas
leaders talk to reporters. (Reuters)
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RAMALLAH,
West Bank, December 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
The resistance group Hamas has swept the final round of Palestinian
municipal elections, broadly defeating President Mahmoud Abbas's
mainstream Fatah.
Preliminary
results showed that Hamas won majority of votes in Nablus, Jenin and
Al-Bireh – headquarters of the Palestinian Authority - while the
ruling Fatah group and independent candidates won in Ramallah and
smaller cities.
"In
the cities, Hamas won a resounding victory," a senior electoral
official said Friday, December 16, Agence France Presse (AFP)
reported.
Fatah,
by contract, won the majority in the smaller towns and villages, the
source added, quoting preliminary results of the poll in which 1,321
candidates were running for a seat in 42 municipalities.
In
the major cities, each local council has 15 seats.
However,
Fatah's strong showing in the smaller municipalities gave it an
overall victory in terms of seats, grabbing some 35 percent of 414
seats compared with 26 percent won by Hamas.
The
remaining seats were taken by smaller coalitions or independent
candidates.
Official
results for the election are expected to be published at the end of
the week.
Thursday's
vote was seen as a test of Hamas's strength ahead of the January
legislative elections.
The
Palestinian legislative elections are due January 25, 2006, with all
factions participating except Islamic Jihad which chose to boycott the
process.
Hamas
is widely expected to make a strong showing in the legislative polls
at the expense of Abbas' mainstream Fatah movement.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to disrupt the January elections
if Hamas fielded candidates in the polls.
Strong
Showing
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Abbas's
Fatah movement suffered a big blow. (Reuters)
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The
Palestinian polls showed that Hamas won 53 percent of local council
seats in the West Bank town of Al-Bireh while Fatah received only 27
percent, according to Reuters.
The
resistance group also garnered 43 percent of municipal cities in Jenin,
while Fatah and other groups retained 42 percent of seats.
In
Ramallah, where the main Palestinian government offices are located,
Fatah grabbed 34 percent of council seats while Hamas only received 31
percent.
The
Palestinian Center of Policy and Survey Research had said in an
earlier projection that Hamas had won 68% of seats in the Nablus city
council while Fatah garnered 16%.
Hearing
the results, Palestinians in Nablus celebrated in the streets,
chanting "God is great", while drivers waved the green flag
of Hamas and honked their horns.
Turnout
of the Thursday's polls stood at around 75 percent, the electoral
official said.
Hamas
made strong showing in the first three rounds of municipal elections.
Pundits
have said that the Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip in
September and October was aimed at provoking Hamas into attacking
Israeli targets and eventually undermining its participation in the
elections.
Hamas,
which saw its popularity soaring during more than four years of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada, entered electoral politics for the first time at the
end of 2004.
It
secured a landslide victory over Fatah in the first-ever Gaza Strip
council elections in January.
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