Palestinian rerun vote put off, defusing Hamas threat
Reuters
Date: 05-31-05
GAZA (Reuters) - A rerun of some Palestinian town elections set for Wednesday has been postponed, defusing a boycott threat by Hamas militants that raised fears of strife with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.
The Palestinian local elections committee said on Tuesday it had put off the rerun "until further notice", heeding a proposal from Fatah for easing tensions with Hamas that could potentially undermine Abbas's agenda for peacemaking with Israel.
Hamas, a rising Islamist movement furious over the annulment of its May 5 election victories in three large Gaza towns after court challenges by Fatah, said it would reconsider whether to take part in the rerun after the committee decision.
Hamas rejected the court rulings based on Fatah allegations of fraud -- no evidence of this was found by foreign monitors -- but had signalled it could accept a rerun if it were put off by a month to allow time for steps to ensure the vote was fair.
Hamas and Fatah are also at loggerheads over the likely postponement of a July 17 parliamentary election in which Hamas was poised to do well.
Abbas wants Hamas, which is sworn to destroying Israel, to enter mainstream politics in hopes of solidifying a tenuous three-month-old ceasefire with the Jewish state and broadening his domestic mandate for Middle East peace talks.
Hamas stunned Fatah earlier on Tuesday by announcing the boycott and calling on Palestinians not to vote in the rerun in the districts of Rafah, al-Bureij and Beit Lahiya, after Egyptian mediation failed to resolve the dispute.
"Hamas will not recognise the result. Hamas has the right to use all means to defend its (May 5) victories. The crisis we have reached is Fatah's responsibility alone," Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri told a news conference.
HAMAS STREET PROTESTS
Hamas called the court decision a "political ploy to steal our victory" and accused Fatah of piling pressure on judges. Tens of thousands of Hamas activists have staged protest rallies, raising fears of factional violence.
A Hamas election boycott would be a serious setback for Abbas. The Islamist militants are abiding by the ceasefire he engineered but the deal hinged partly on his promise of more power-sharing via elections.
In response to the boycott threat, senior Fatah leader Samir al-Mashharawi said the party had agreed to delay the rerun, with a new date to be decided by the elections committee.
"We did this for the sake of national consensus," he said. "Fatah is keen to end this crisis. Fatah will not be happy when a Palestinian party is absent from the election. We seek real competition; we do not seek to achieve false victories."
Abbas, who inherited a Fatah movement that many Palestinians say grew corrupt and remote under longtime leader Yasser Arafat, favours democratic reforms to co-opt militants and curb violence he believes has damaged Palestinians' case for a state.
Hamas, vanguard of a Palestinian revolt in Israeli-occupied territories, entered electoral politics for the first time this year, scoring victories in a string of West Bank and Gaza towns and gearing up for the promised July parliamentary vote.
But senior Fatah officials said last week that vote was likely to be postponed because of party discord over changes to the voting law sought by Abbas to give smaller factions like Hamas a better chance of gaining seats.
Hamas has called the looming delay a manoeuvre to extend Fatah's domination in parliament and said it could re-evaluate its commitment to the ceasefire as a result.
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