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| Israel-Palestine |
| Palestinians vote: Litmus Test for Hamas |
| 2005-05-06 |
| RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Palestinians voted in more than 80 municipalities across the occupied territories in a final test of the radical Hamas group's popularity before it contests legislative polls for the first time. Hundreds of thousands of people trouped out to cast their ballot ar polling stations to elect 906 municipal council representatives from among 2,519 candidates, including 399 women. In an incident near Ramallah in the West Bank, masked gunmen burst into a polling station during the vote count late Thursday and seized three ballot boxes which they set on fire, election officials said. Jamal Shubaki of the local elections commission said the attack took place in the village of Attara. Guards at the station had been overwhelmed by the large number of assailants. "We regret this incident, especially as the election went calmly everywhere else on the whole," he told AFP. Preliminary figures released shortly after the polls closed put turnout at 80 percent in the Gaza Strip and 70 percent in the West Bank. Early results were expected from early Friday and final results due on Sunday. More than 400,000 people were entitled to vote in an election seen as a litmus test of the overall popularity of the radical Islamist movement which first entered the democratic process last December... Despite the rivalry [between Fatah and Hamas], election officials say the campaign has been peaceful. Delegates from the Council of Europe and the US-based National Democratic Institute were in place to monitor the vote. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #3 actually the true test for Hamas is how they actually will govern the towns they win (and they will win several) |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-05-06 09:24 |
| #2 Friggin' amateurs... |
| Posted by: Richard Daley 2005-05-06 01:52 |
| #1 setting 3 boxes on fire? Bah! King's County Dems could teach them a thing or two |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-06 00:21 |