Hamas wins landslide victory in Gaza polls
By Richard Allen, Times Online

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1460586,00.html

January 28, 2005

Militant Islamic group Hamas has won an overwhelming victory in local elections in the Gaza Strip, in a setback for the Fatah party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The results came as Israel announced it was scaling down offensive operations in the area after 2,000 armed Palestinians were deployed in the south of the territory with orders to halt rocket attacks.

Hamas, which was competing for the first time in elections in the area, won 77 out of 118 seats and now controls seven out of the 10 towns involved in the poll.

Fatah won 26 seats, independents took 14 and the radical Popular Front won one seat. The overall turnout was 85 per cent. Twenty of the 118 winners were women.

Residents appeared to have voted on local issues and expressed their anger over corruption in the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.

Ian MacKinnon, Times Jerusalem correspondent, said the results were more of a setback for Fatah than for Mr Abbas, although they would strengthen Hamas's hand in any negotiations on the ceasefire that Mr Abbas is trying to secure.

MacKinnon said: "Analysts seem to think that Abbas was elected on a personal vote rather than because he represented Fatah.

"The municiple authorities are about services like water, electricity and roads. People were not happy with the services they were getting from Fatah. They see it as corrupt and nepotistic.

"Hamas is seen as both clean and reasonably efficient, particularly with its welfare programmes, and it's seen as being at the forefront of the armed resistance to Israel. Abbas will now have to give Hamas some greater weight as he tries to move forward and reach some kind of deal with the Israelis."

Mr Abbas has been trying to bring militants into the political system, recently winning a pledge from them to temporarily halt attacks on Israel.

Thousands of Hamas supporters took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate the victory, chanting: "Hamas is the real way for reform and rebuilding," waving green Hamas flags and handing out sweets.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said: "We consider this victory a victory of the Palestinian people. Its not the victory of somebody against somebody, the competition was to serve our peoples interests."

The poll followed local elections in 26 West Bank towns and villages in which Hamas made a strong showing and took control of several towns away from Fatah.