|
Final Results of 3rd Round |
|
|
|
Written by Webmaster
|
|
Monday, 03 October 2005 |
|
| Final Results of 3rd Round of Palestinian Local Elections
Final results of the third round of Palestinian local elections as announced on Saturday by the head of the Higher Commission for Local Elections Jamal Shobaki showed that the ruling Fatah movement won 53 percent of the vote (546 seats) in 51 municipalities and Hamas won 26 percent of the vote (256 seats) in 13, out of a total of 82 West Bank councils.
|
"More than 80% (127,000) of more than 144,000 eligible voters in the third round went to 293 polling stations. 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.
The voter turnout was 84 percent, (127,000) of more than 144,000 eligible voters in the third round went to 293 polling stations on Thursday. Polls closed at 7pm Palestine time.
Other parties and independents won 15 councils, said Shobaki, a leading Fatah member.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) came third with 50 seats.
Alliances are expected to be formed in 40 councils where Fatah and Hamas did not win exclusively.
Some 2478 candidates, including 558 women, vied Thursday for 1018 seats.
Shobaki said that 17 candidates were detained by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and most of them were elected. Seven Hamas winners in the village of Shaqba were among the detainees.
Shobaki said Friday that dozens of election monitors and coordinators were among those detained, but he anticipated little impact on the elections.
The Israeli Army said they have detained 415 Palestinians since last Friday.
?Some 100 or 200 votes will not affect the entire voting process,? Shobaki said.
Beitunia, with a population of about 135,000, was the largest of the communities electing mayors and municipal councils in Thursday's vote.
Beitunia's results reflected a divided electorate. Fatah won six of 13 council seats, Hamas took five and independents captured two, Shobaki said on Friday, citing the still-preliminary returns.
Five female candidates on the list of the left-wing, secular People's Party in the town of Zeita ran their own slate for the first time.
In two previous rounds of local elections, Hamas won 30 percent or more, and took control of some of the largest towns in the Palestinian territories, including Rafah, Beit Lahiya and Qalqiliya.
A fourth and final round is tentatively set for December 8 in the largest Palestinian cities, including Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Gaza City.
The municipal elections are the first for 28 years.
Hamas accused Israel of hobbling its chances in the local elections with the detentions.
Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman of the Islamic Resistance Movement announced Thursday that it has decided not to participate in voting in some constituencies in the West Bank due to security reasons.
Abu Zuhri said in a written statement that Hamas decided to only participate in 61 constituencies in the West Bank.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath, who is also the Minister of Information, defended Hamas's involvement in the electoral process, saying it was ?a good sign that they become more involved in the political process.?
Hamas ?cannot be marginalized. We want them in the political process ... Those who want to be in government should go through the ballot box, and not through shooting,? he added at a conference in the Swedish capital Stockholm.
Israel's foreign ministry reiterated its argument that Hamas should not be allowed to take part in elections as its refusal to respect the Jewish state's right to exist was in contravention of the now largely defunct 1993 Oslo autonomy accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
?The participation of Hamas in the PA elections would be nothing more than a bid by this group of Islamist extremists to seize power from moderate Palestinians who are interested in coexistence with Israel,? said the ministry in a statement.
Separately Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that the Oslo Accords, reached between Israeli and Palestinian leaders during the 1990s, specifically state that organizations that reject peace should not be allowed to run in elections.
As well as being seen as an indicator of support ahead of the parliamentary election, Thursday?s poll was the first ballot since Israel completed a pullout from Gaza on September 12. A fourth stage of council elections is due later this year.
Hamas said the results were no indicator of what might happen at parliamentary elections because only a relatively small number of voters had participated in the current round.
Hamas boycotted the only previous parliamentary ballot in 1996.
|
Publications 
