Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Hamas sweep?
Everyone's talking about how Hamas had a landslide victory. Here's the actual results (from the Palestinian Election Commission website)
Hamas:...........................................................434,817
Fatah:............................................................403,458
PFLP:.............................................................. 41,671
The Alternative:............................................... 28,779
Independent Palestine (Mustafa Barghouti):..........26,554
The Third Way (Hanan Ashrawi):.........................23,5135
smaller lists below 2 threshold:.......................53,200
Total:..........................................................1,011,992
Looks like the kind of "sweeping mandate" that George Bush had...
Anyway, it restores a bit of hope that perhaps Palestine is not headed for a shariah government a la Saudia, Iran, and Iraq.
It also means that Hamas will have to make policies that others approve of -- they don't have a majority, and can't railroad anything through -- either domestically or with regards to Israel. I have to say, that's a major relief. ¶ 8:56 AM
Hamas:...........................................................434,817
Fatah:............................................................403,458
PFLP:.............................................................. 41,671
The Alternative:............................................... 28,779
Independent Palestine (Mustafa Barghouti):..........26,554
The Third Way (Hanan Ashrawi):.........................23,5135
smaller lists below 2 threshold:.......................53,200
Total:..........................................................1,011,992
Looks like the kind of "sweeping mandate" that George Bush had...
Anyway, it restores a bit of hope that perhaps Palestine is not headed for a shariah government a la Saudia, Iran, and Iraq.
It also means that Hamas will have to make policies that others approve of -- they don't have a majority, and can't railroad anything through -- either domestically or with regards to Israel. I have to say, that's a major relief. ¶ 8:56 AM
