Hamas Has Strong Election Showing
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The radical Hamas movement made a surprisingly strong showing in local Palestinian elections, according to preliminary results obtained Friday, signaling a drop in popularity for the ruling Fatah movement ahead of next month's presidential poll.
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Palestinians hold municipal elections in parts of the West Bank on Thursday, seen as a dress rehearsal for a presidential vote to choose Yasser Arafat&#39;s successor next month.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank  - Hamas Islamic militants  scored significant successes in Palestinian municipal  elections, the first contested by the group sworn to destroying  Israel, initial results showed on Friday.
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Three polls indicate that the race for President of the Palestinian Authority is nearly even between Fatah choice Mahmoud Abbas and independent candidate Marwan Barghouti.
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DAMASCUS, Syria - A senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas indicted in the United States for conspiring to fund terror attacks against Israel denied the accusations and said the charges were driven by election-year politics in the United States.   "This is election campaigning," Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau, told The Associated Press in Damascus on Friday...
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New Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections could be organized in less than 90 days but may not be possible any time soon without Hamas's consent, officials involved in election planning said Saturday.
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Hamas Islamist fighters appeared in command of much of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after battering forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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A Hamas leader says the Islamic militant group will not field a candidate in the January Palestinian presidential elections. He says he expects Hamas supporters not to participate in the vote.
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ABU DIS, West Bank: Palestinians in the West Bank turned out on Thursday to vote in the first council elections in 28 years, serving as a litmus test for next monthâs presidential ballot and the support of the Hamas movement.
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Palestinians in the Gaza Strip voted in their first municipal elections under Israeli occupation on Thursday in a test of grassroots support for President Mahmoud Abbas and rival Islamist groups.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to call early presidential and parliament elections is fraught with legal and political difficulties. Independent experts have said he is on shaky legal ground, and the ruling Hamas Party says it will challenge him every step of the way.
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Palestinians hold municipal elections in parts of the West Bank on Thursday, seen as a dress rehearsal for a presidential vote to choose Yasser Arafat's successor next month.
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Hamas has full security control, but no political authority. Ministries were deserted, the courts were not operating. All the major Fatah security headquarters have been ransacked along with the private homes of their key officers.
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Palestinian voters appeared to have overwhelmingly elected Mahmoud Abbas as their leader Sunday in balloting many Palestinians and international officials considered a milestone in efforts to bring democracy to the Arab world and a potential opening for reviving peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
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LEADERSHIP: Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they want nothing to do with the election of a new leader to replace Yasser Arafat. Hamas also vowed to keep up attacks on Israel.
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Palestinians voted on Thursday in the  first municipal elections in the Gaza Strip, a test of strength  between new President Mahmoud Abbas and the militant Hamas  group.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 24  - The mainstream Fatah party is on course to win most seats in the landmark Palestinian local elections despite a good showing by Hamas, according to partial and preliminary results Friday.