Unofficial results in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council indicate a massive victory for Hamas. The unconfirmed results show that Hamas has captured almost all of the 16 constituencies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in particular the Jerusalem district, where Hamas won all four seats allocated for Muslims. Two seats are also reserved for Christian delegates in Jerusalem.
Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya told Reuters on Thursday that an initial count of votes showed his movement had won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. "Hamas has won more than 70 seats in Gaza and the West Bank, which gives it more than 50 percent of the vote," Haniyah stated. Another Hamas source claimed the movement gained close to 80 seats in the 132-member parliament. This means that it is possible Hamas could form the next government.
The electoral commission had no immediate comment and was expected to issue results later on Thursday.
Hamas won all nine seats in the Hebron district, four of the five Ramallah seats (the fifth seat is reserved for a Christian delegate), and captured the majority of seats in Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilyah, Tulkarem and Salfit.
In the Gaza Strip Hamas won all seats in the northern, Gaza City and Dir al Balah districts. Hamas won four of the five seats in Khan Yunis, and Fatah candidate Mohammed Dahlan apparently won the fifth seat. Fatah won the majority of seats in Rafah.
Earlier, based on unofficial results the ruling Fatah party appeared to have won 58 seats followed closely by Hamas with 53 seats.
Thus late Wednesday, both Fatah and Hamas claimed victory and celebrated noisily.
On his part, U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday the United States would not deal with Hamas until the Palestinian movement renounces its position for calling for the destruction of Israel. "A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace," the president said an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"And so you're getting a sense of how I'm going to deal with Hamas if they end up in positions of responsibility. And the answer is: Not until you renounce your desire to destroy Israel will we deal with you."
