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Voters Defy Predictions Even in Fatah Stronghold
Hamas supporters celebrate the party's election victory on the streets of Ramallah, the West Bank city where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters.
(By Uriel Sinai -- Getty Images)
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On election day outside a polling station in the neighboring city of El Bireh, a cluster of Hamas activists set up a laptop computer loaded with a database containing voters' names and the places they were assigned to cast ballots. "At most of the voting centers we have these," said Hassan Hamudah, 44, a Hamas supporter supervising the help booth, which was draped in a green Hamas banner. "Many people registered late and don't know where to vote."
Ziad Abu Ein, a deputy minister of prisoner affairs and Fatah policymaker, pulled up to the curb in a BMW sedan, went inside and cast his ballot with confidence. Asked what he thought of the Hamas curbside operation, Abu Ein said, "It's just for show."
"This is mere propaganda," he said. "What counts is how the voter votes at the ballot box. That's all."
In the end, many Palestinians who fear Hamas's unyielding position toward Israel nevertheless cast ballots for the movement in such places as Ramallah, where the streets are increasingly crowded with women cloaked as required by conservative Islam. In many cases, the choices before them were less than appealing.
Hamas candidates will hold every seat here except the one reserved for a Christian. The leading Fatah candidate was Jamil Tarifi, a former government minister and big-spending businessman who was implicated in government corruption by a parliamentary committee. He lost badly.
Hamas's political operation has worked quietly but diligently for years. Public opinion polls have consistently underestimated the party's strength, partly because many of its followers are afraid of revealing their allegiance. Many Hamas activists are doing time in Israeli jails, and friction with Fatah's armed wing has been growing.
"My vote is between me and my God," said a female voter in a Muslim head scarf after casting a ballot at a secondary school here.
Hamas now faces the hard work of governing a frustrated public that expects quick progress from a party that has promised change. Kanan, the teacher, said Hamas must first address rampant unemployment, then devise a better way to distribute the millions of dollars in foreign aid that the Palestinian Authority receives. Then there is war.
"Hamas is a legitimate movement fighting occupation in our land," Kanan said. "It has the right and obligation to retrieve all of our stolen rights."
