Despite Palestinian officials’ reluctance to make public the political affiliation of the winners in the local elections last week, all the varying reports indicate that Fatah got most seats, while Hamas was the second-most-popular faction.
Officials avoided naming political affiliation since they claim candidates ran as independents and individuals, rather than as representatives of a particular party.
For some, Hamas’s performance in the elections indicates their popularity in the West Bank and is a matter for concern. Hamas is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and has been responsible for killing and maiming hundreds, if not thousands, of Israelis since its inception in 1987.
The organization has a large popular following in the Gaza Strip, mainly through the social and welfare services it provides to the local hard up residents. The initial results of the local elections indicate that Hamas also has significant grassroots backing in the West Bank.
But while some have cautioned against Hamas taking control over West Bank municipalities, others suggest that panic may be uncalled-for.
Contrary to what many think, Hamas was actually less successful than expected, said Professor Mohammed Dajani, a political scientist from Al-Quds University. “The concern was that Hamas would take all the seats but the elections now showed that Hamas’s power within the masses is exaggerated,” he said.
Hamas garners its public support in the West Bank the same way that it operates in the Gaza Strip, Dajani explained, but its popularity in the West Bank is nevertheless relatively low. The reason for this, he explained, is that Hamas practically has exclusivity in the social services it gives in the Gaza Strip, but in the West Bank there exist contesting political groups providing similar services. The Gaza Strip also has a larger population of needy people who are dependent on such services.
The December 23 elections were the first phase of the local elections and were conducted in the city of Jericho and in 25 villages throughout the West Bank. Following the local elections, Palestinians will head for the ballot boxes on January 9, 2005, to elect their new leader and yet again a few months later to determine the make-up of their parliament.
Hamas is boycotting the chairmanship election but ran candidates in Thursday’s local balloting, the first local elections in Palestinian areas since 1976.
Officials registered a turnout of 81 percent in the local elections as more than 144,000 Palestinians showed up to decide which of 878 candidates would have the 306 seats in the municipal and local councils, according to the Palestine Media Center.
Unlike the municipal elections that most people are familiar with, Dajani said the platforms presented in the local Palestinian elections were of a national political nature rather than a local one.
“The platforms reflected more the general political outline,” he said. “They were talking much more as though these were national elections slogans.” Candidates focused on issues that bear a more national character such as halting corruption, the attitude to the Oslo Accords and continuing the armed conflict, Dajani said, rather than focusing on local issues such as improving roads, providing better sewage and water facilities, healthcare and education.
“Normally,” Dajani said, “these issues become priorities high on the agenda but because of the political situation, because of the Israeli occupation, because of Arafat’s demise only a short while ago, the influence of politics is much more clear than the usual need or demands of local communities.”
But even if Hamas does get a significant foothold in the local governments, Dajani said, their power in these governments is still limited. “I don’t think that the local power of the municipalities will spread to the national government, there are limits,” he said.
The local governments have some sway over the central government because it is an indication of what the public wants, Dajani said. “Municipalities don’t have a national role to play in national politics as such,” Dajani said, but added that they are like a barometer pointing to who is hot and who is not.
Although Hamas are very militant, he explained, and although they overtly oppose the Oslo Accords signed with Israel, he said they do not wish to negate the accords totally since they realize it is the only option available.
Beyond the vote itself, the election provided a dry run for the January 9 election for the successor to Yassir Arafat.
In the next local elections, Dajani said the outcome will depend on the situation. “The more the Israeli-Palestinian situation is calm, the less people move towards Hamas,” he explained.