Palestine

Raddad: The popular boycott to elections confirms the Hamas was right


PLC member Riyad Raddad stated that the Palestinian local elections in the occupied West Bank breaches the reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo.

This election will not serve the reconciliation process and it will strengthen the division, he told Quds press, stressing that it is conducted without a Palestinian national consensus, the fact that led to a popular boycott.

The low voter turnout to the polling stations across the West Bank is considered an indication to the Palestinian lack of interaction with the important issues and to the Palestinian miserable living conditions due to the worsening economic and political conditions, he said, adding that it is also an indication that the Palestinian people wants a real national reconciliation and a unified leadership.

“The popular boycott of the elections indicates Hamas was right in boycotting the elections too,” he stated.

Initial polling results indicate a decline in voter turnout in Nablus where around 35% percent of Palestinians eligible to vote took part in Saturday’s local elections.

The voter turnout in the last local elections in Nablus, which took place in 2005, was about 75%, which reflects that Hamas supporters’ commitment to the boycott decision, also it reflects the Palestinian ordinary citizen’s apathy towards these elections with the absence of a real competition.

Some leaked information indicated a high percentage of white papers from some voters, especially government employees, who had to turn up for elections in order to avoid PA harassment.

Initial polling results also indicated that the Development and Independence list that includes Fatah movement, the People’s Party, the Democratic Front, and Fida, is going to lose before the Independent National List of Nablus, headed by the former and resigned leader of Fath movement Ghassan Shakaa.

Sources from the screening committees in Nablus and Jinin confirmed that the Development and Independence list affiliated with Fath movement suffered a heavy defeat, which is considered a real slap.

In Jenin sources told PIC that “Jenin deserves” list, headed by the former Mayor Walid Abu Moyes and includes defectors from Fatah movement and independents, had won by a large margin on the Independence and Development list.

Analysts stated that the election of Nablus is a referendum on Fatah movement’s popularity, stressing that losing Nablus city that includes the largest voters’ numbers in the West Bank, although there is no real competitor in the province in light of Hamas’s boycott to the elections, would be a final blow to movement politically and popularly.

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