(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The next election to the Palestinian Legislative Council would see Fatah winning, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. 45 per cent of respondents would vote for Fatah in the next election, up three points since March.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The next election to the Palestinian Legislative Council would see Fatah winning, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. 45 per cent of respondents would vote for Fatah in the next election, up three points since March.
Hamas is second with 26 per cent. 18 per cent of respondents remain undecided.
Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas won the January 2005 presidential ballot in the Palestinian Territories with 62.32 per cent of all cast ballots. In January 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council election, securing 74 of the 112 seats at stake. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh officially took over as prime minister in March. The Israeli government believes Hamas is directly responsible for the deaths of 377 citizens in a variety of attacks, which include dozens of suicide bombings.
In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah leaders reached an accord which set the guidelines for a power-sharing Palestinian administration, headed by Hamas. In June, amid a wave of violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah factions, Hamas militants seized control of Gaza. Abbas issued a decree to form a 12-member emergency government based in the West Bank and expelled Hamas from the administration. Fatah member Salam Fayyad was appointed as prime minister by Abbas.
Abbas has extended his tenure—which was supposed to end in January 2009—indefinitely. The extension is part of an Egypt-sponsored plan to foster reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. Abbas has said he does not intend to seek a new term in office in the next presidential election, which has not yet been scheduled.
Both factions had agreed to hold joint presidential and parliamentary elections in January 2010, but the actual timing of the new ballot remains uncertain. In May, Abbas swore in a new government that does not include members of Hamas. Fayyad remained in his post as prime minister.
On Jun. 11, Fayyad announced that the government has "decided to delay the [municipal] elections." Government officials later confirmed that Abbas’s administration wants to postpone the ballot—originally scheduled for Jul. 17—"to give a new room for efforts to achieve reconciliation" between Fatah and Hamas.
Polling Data
If a parliamentary election were to take place today, which list would you vote for?
|
|
Jun. 2010
|
Mar. 2010
|
Dec. 2009
|
|
Fatah list
|
45%
|
42%
|
43%
|
|
Change and Reform list (Hamas)
|
26%
|
28%
|
27%
|
|
Other parties
|
12%
|
11%
|
14%
|
|
Undecided
|
18%
|
19%
|
17%
|
Source: Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,200 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conducted from Jun. 10 to Jun. 13, 2010. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
