West Bank student election win reflects political mood

A student group ideologically aligned with Hamas has won the most seats for the third year in a row in an election held at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank in a result that, according to a policy expert, reflects the overall political mood among Palestinians, reports Al Jazeera.

Al-Wafaa Islamic Bloc won 25 of the 51 seats in the student council election on 10 May, with the Fatah-aligned Martyr Yasser Arafat party winning 22. The last general election held among Palestinians was the parliamentary vote in 2006, in which Hamas won a majority. Fatah's refusal to recognise the result ended in divided rule among Palestinians in the occupied territories, with Hamas administering the Gaza Strip and Fatah ruling the West Bank in conjunction with Israeli forces.

The West Bank university's yearly election is "perceived as a bellwether of Palestinian politics and an indicator of the overall political mood among Palestinians" in the West Bank, according to Alaa Tartir, programme director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. "The student body affiliated with Hamas won the elections for the third year running which debunks the myth that Hamas is losing its popularity and support of the Palestinians in the West Bank," Tartir told Al Jazeera.
Full report on the Al Jazeera site