'Hamas would lose PA elections'

[oberliner]

Survey finds Fatah to be 33 percent more popular than Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's party Fatah would crush their rivals Hamas were elections to be held today, a Palestinian survey has found.

A poll conducted earlier this week in both the West Bank and Gaza and released Thursday found that 48 percent of voters would support Fatah were presidential elections held next week, while only 11 percent would vote for Hamas. Ten percent of respondents said they would vote for other Palestinian political parties and 31 percent said they were undecided or would not vote.

The poll, based on a survey of 880 Palestinian women and men, was conducted by the Ramallah-based polling group Near East Consulting and has a margin of error of +/-3.4%.

"There is widespread support for Fatah," Dr. Jamil Rabah, director of Near East Consulting in the PA, told The Media Line. "They support the Fatah political process and don't think Hamas is on the right path politically."

The survey found 45 percent of Palestinians to have confidence in Abbas, while only 13 percent were found to have confidence in Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. 54 percent of Palestinians were found to perceive the Fatah-led government in Ramallah as the sole legitimate Palestinian government, 19 percent see the Hamas-led government in Gaza to be the sole legitimate Palestinian government and 27 percent believe both governments are illegitimate.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=169038

[bemildred]

1. So, elections are overdue aren't they?

Abbas is into his second extension of his term or something. Why not hold elections? What's the holdup?

[shergald]

2. We can only hope that Hamas agrees to them and Israel permits them to proceed.

But there are motivations on both sides not to have elections. On Hamas' part, since an Israeli-US effort to eject Hamas forcibly from political power in Gaza, Hamas may be leery of a Fatah win. What happens then? Are Hamas officials arrested like Israel arrested and jailed all of the Hamas winners of the last election? In my mind, it will first take an agreement between Fatah and Hamas before any election will happen.

And what about Israel? Ever since the last election, Israel has been using Hamas as a scapegoat for all the problems in the region. They have been the perfect red herring to distract attention from the continuing occupation and colonialism in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Will Israel be willing to give Hamas up?

Mine is just one look at the prospect of new elections. Anyone else have other ideas about it?

[oberliner]

3. Hamas rejects Palestinian Authority call for July elections

The West Bank-based Palestinian government on Monday called local elections for July, in a move the Hamas Islamist group said was illegitimate.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's cabinet decided to hold the municipal elections on July 17. The Fatah movement, which is represented in Fayyad's government in the West Bank, welcomed the move and said it would take part.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said Fayyad and his government were illegitimate and not in a position to call a vote. Any elections could only take place after national reconciliation, spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148368.html

[LeftishBrit]

4. Well, those polls may have something to do with the holdup...

Parties that are running at 11% support in the polls have little motivation to call/encourage new elections.