Hamas wins big in local Palestinian elections, takes control from Fatah

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Hamas appears to have defeated Fatah by a sizable margin in three of the four major West Bank cities where local elections were held Thursday: Nablus, Jenin and Al-Bireh, which is next to Ramallah.

The final results will only be published on Sunday, but early results showed Hamas winning 65 percent of the seats on the Nablus city council, compared to only 15 percent for Fatah. In Jenin, early results showed Hamas winning over 50 percent of the vote, and in Al-Bireh, it was also leading Fatah by a wide margin. Only in Ramallah did a joint list comprised of Fatah and several leftist parties appear to be in the lead.

Results were not available from the 40 smaller towns where local elections were held Thursday.

Fatah activists attributed the party's poor showing largely to its recent split, evinced when it submitted two competing lists to the Central Elections Commission on Wednesday for the parliamentary elections to be held on January 25. The split caused many Fatah activists to
stay home Thursday, leaving the field to Hamas."


more