(Angus Reid Global Scan) - The governing Fatah remains the top political faction in the Palestinian Authority, according to a poll by the Birzeit University Development Studies Programme. 41.1 per cent of respondents would support Fatah candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council ballot.

The Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement is second with 22.6 per cent, followed by the Popular Front, the Palestinian People's Party, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian National Initiative. 30 per cent of all respondents are undecided. The election is scheduled for Jul. 17.

On Mar. 17, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said that representatives from 13 factions—including Hamas and Islamic Jihad—had agreed to extend the temporary cessation of attacks against Israel until the end of the year.

Last year, Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and co-founder Abdel Aziz Rantisi were killed in separate Israeli missile strikes. 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. Hamas was the top party in seven of the 10 Gaza Strip municipalities that held local elections on Jan. 27.

On Apr. 20, legislators passed a new electoral law that seeks to change the allocation of seats, so that two-thirds of all lawmakers are chosen by direct ballot, with the remainder coming from party lists. Abbas wanted to enact a 50-50 split, in order to motivate Islamic factions to become part of the political process.

In the 1996 ballot, Fatah elected 50 members to the 81-seat Legislative Council.

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