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Fatah wins 51 Palestinian local councils - official

Posted on: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 06:32 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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