Fatah, Hamas win main Palestinian municipal seats

Vagueness still overshadow the number of municipal seats over which both the Palestine national liberation ( Fatah) and Islamic resistance ( Hamas) got in the first phase of the local elections in the West Bank which covered 26 municipal councils.

After the Palestinian local rule minister and chairman of the higher committee for the elections Jamal al-Shweiki announced the results of the elections yesterday without giving the political affiliations of the candidates, an official source in the Fatah movement said it won 18 municipal council, while an informed source in Hamas said it got 12 seats.

For his part, the secretary of the Fatah movement in the West Bank, Hussein al-Sheikh, said that Hamas got 185 seats out of the 306 seats under competition, considering that Hamas will get the seats of the chairman in 12 councils, Sheikh Hassan Youssef, one of the leading figures in Hams movement in the West Bank stressed that Hamas won 12 seats and took part in alliances that won in three other areas.

The Palestinian political analysist Hani al-Masri said that " Fatah movement won in some 50% in the areas for 30% for the Hamas movement.