Hamas won the January
2006 Palestinian elections
Hamas won the January 2006 elections to the Palestinian
Legislative Council (PLC). It won 74 out
of the 132 seats to Fatah’s 45 (and others’ 13)[1]. It is universally agreed that these elections
were free and fair.
The EU (and the
(*)
In these elections, half of the seats (that is, 66) were
filled through a national list system and half by election from multi-member
electoral districts.
In the national list, Hamas won 44.45% of the vote (and 29
seats) and Fatah won 41.43% (and 28 seats).
In the electoral districts, Hamas won 45 seats out of 66,
compared with Fatah’s 15 (and others’ 4).
(*)
These days, the mainstream media often give the impression
that
In fact, in the PLC elections, Hamas won 71% of the seats in
the West Bank (30 out of 42), compared with only 63% in
(*)
After the mysterious death of President Yasser Arafat in
November 2004, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah won the subsequent presidential election
in January 2005. Hamas did not contest
this election.
Shortly after that, Hamas announced a ceasefire. A year later, in January 2006, it contested
elections to the PLC for the first time and, as we have seen, won an absolute majority.
National List
In the national list system, Hamas won 44.45% of the vote
(and 29 seats) and Fatah won 41.43% (and 28 seats).
|
Change and
Reform (Hamas) |
440,409 |
44.45% |
29 |
|
Fatah
Movement |
410,554 |
41.43% |
28 |
|
Martyr Bu
Ail Mustafa |
42,101 |
4.25% |
3 |
|
Independent al-Barghouthi
and Independents) |
28,973 |
2.92% |
2 |
|
Independent
|
26,909 |
2.92% |
2 |
|
The |
23,862 |
2.41% |
2 |
Electoral Districts
Hamas’ substantial majority arose from its success in the
electoral districts, where it won 45 additional seats, compared with 17 for
Fatah.
|
|
Hamas |
Fatah |
Others |
|
|
4 |
2 |
|
|
Jenin |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Tulkarem |
2 |
|
1 |
|
Tubas |
1 |
|
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
|
|
Qalqilya |
|
2 |
|
|
Salfit |
1 |
|
|
|
Ramallah & al-Bireh |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
Total ( |
30 |
11 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
|
|
|
5 |
|
3 |
|
Deir al-Balah |
2 |
1 |
|
|
Khan Younis |
3 |
2 |
|
|
Rafah |
|
3 |
|
|
Total ( |
15 |
6 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
45 |
17 |
4 |
So, Hamas won a substantial majority of the seats, both in
the Gazan electoral districts (15 out of 24, that is, 63%) and in those on the
Of Fatah’s 11 seats in the West Bank, 4 (2 in
Why, when Hamas got only 3% more votes than Fatah in the
national list elections, did it win so many more seats than Fatah in the
district elections? The primary reason
for this is that the electoral system used in the latter was first past the
post in multi-member constituencies. So,
for example, in an 8-member constituency, each elector could vote for up to 8
people and the 8 candidates with the most votes were elected. In that system, it is possible for a party
supported by just over 50% of voters to win all 8 seats. Proportional representation it is not.
Aftermath
After winning the election, Hamas tried to form a
broad-based national unity government, but Fatah wouldn’t play ball. A Hamas-led government, with Ismail Haniyeh
as Prime Minister, was formed in March 2006, and it received a vote of
confidence from the PLC, as required by the Palestinian Basic Law.
(The use of the term “government” here is a loose one, since
A year later, after the Mecca Agreement, a national unity
government was formed with Fatah and other participation, again with Ismail
Haniyeh as Prime Minister. Again,
By refusing to accept the outcome of these elections and
dismissing Hamas as a terrorist organisation, the US/EU gave Israel a green
light to take military action against Hamas – which it has done continuously
ever since.
Military coup?
A few months later in June 2007, if you believe the media,
Hamas carried out a military coup in
In reality, Hamas pre-empted a US-inspired attempt to
undermine the existing order in
David Morrison
March 2011