Hamas emerges biggest winner in college elections
Palestine, Politics, 4/20/2006

Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, won the biggest number of seats in the college elections which took place Wednesday at Beir Zeit University, one of the most westernized institutions of higher education in the occupied Palestinian territory.

According to the Public Relations Department of the university, Hamas won 23 seats of the 51 seats making up the student assembly.

Beir Zeit University has a student population of more than 7000 students.
Fatah, Hamas's traditional rival, won 18 seats while supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) came third with five seats.

The Islamic Jihad and an independent list received two seats each, while the remaining seat went to the supporters of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Student elections in the occupied Palestinian territories are viewed by observers as a general indicator of Palestinian public opinion.

The results show that Hamas has more or less maintained its popularity among Palestinians despite the financial and economic difficulties haunting Palestinian society as a result of Israeli, American and European sanctions imposed following Hamas's electoral victory in January and especially after the formation of the Hamas-dominated government three weeks ago.

Some Palestinian commentators have suggested that Israeli- American pressure on the Palestinians is actually boomeranging and that many Palestinians, instead of turning against Hamas as the US and Israel openly say they hope, are actually doing the opposite by showing dogged support for the movement.

Moreover, Fatah has so far failed to rehabilitate and rebuild itself after its crushing electoral defeat on January 25 and continues to suffer from disunity and cronyism.

Previous Stories:
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  British Euro-MP condemns Israel's apartheid policies   (4/19/2006)
  EU rules out financial aid to Hamas-led PA   (4/18/2006)

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