Fatah wins 51 Palestinian local councils – official

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – President Mahmoud Abbas’s
Fatah party won 51 councils in the latest phase of Palestinian
local elections, with militant group Hamas gaining control of
13, an official said on Saturday.

Of 104 municipalities up for grabs in the occupied West
Bank in the third phase of Palestinian local elections, 40 went
to other factions, said Jamal al-Shobaki, head of the Higher
Commission for Local Elections.

The result is seen as a first indicator of voter sympathies
for the main Palestinian factions ahead of parliamentary
elections scheduled for January 2006.

“The electoral process was very successful and it was
praised by local and international observers … it is a
success for the entire Palestinian people,” Shobaki said.

He said the result was disappointing for Hamas, a group
bent on the destruction of Israel, while secular Fatah would
probably be able to take control in many of the councils where
it did not gain an overall majority.

“We expect Hamas to gain no more than one more municipality
while Fatah would probably form alliances with other factions
in municipalities won by others to increase their foothold,” he
said.

Shobaki, who is a Fatah official, said the voter turnout
was 84 percent. A fourth stage of municipal elections for the
councils of major Palestinian towns across Gaza and the West
Bank is due to be held later this year.

Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the results
were no indicator of what might happen at parliamentary
elections because only a small number of voters, numbering
144,000, had participated in the current round of local polls.

BIG CITIES YET TO VOTE

“The big cities still wait in the fourth phase … which
makes this round, regardless of the results, not of major
significance in comparison with what is to come,” he said.

He said Gaza City, for example, had a potential electoral
turnout of 500,000. Analysts predict that support for Hamas
will prove to be greater in some of the major population
centers.

The performance of Fatah, which has been struggling to
overcome public dissatisfaction with corruption and
mismanagement in the Palestinian Authority, was better compared
with Hamas than in two previous rounds.

Hamas said the preliminary figures did not reflect its
grassroots popularity, noting that its candidates did not run
in some districts for fear of arrest by Israel.

Shobaki said 17 election candidates, mostly from Hamas,
were detained by Israel during raids in the West Bank earlier
this week as troops apprehended hundreds of suspected
militants.

He also said that in 22 of the 104 municipalities only one
party or group had stood for election.

“We confirm that Hamas has made progress despite the
Israeli arrests of hundreds of our members,” Abu Zuhri said.

Thursday’s ballot was the first Palestinian vote since
Israel completed its Gaza pullout on September 12. Hamas
boycotted the only previous parliamentary ballot in 1996.

Hamas was the driving force behind suicide bombings against
Israelis during five years of a Palestinian uprising, but
agreed to a truce in February at Abbas’s behest. It did well in
the two earlier phases of municipal voting.

Its popularity is underpinned not only by its fight against
Israel but its charity network and corruption-free image.