Local polls without Hamas pose a big challenge for divided Fatah

MAHMOUD Abbas’ ruling Fatah faction may feel confident heading into local elections without having to face its Hamas rival, but the party is going to the public with its ranks divided.
Ballot booths across the West Bank will open today morning for the initial stage of the first elections in nearly seven years, as Palestinians vote in a local poll.
Last time they voted was in the January 2006 general elections which the Hamas movement won by a landslide.
And during local elections a year earlier, Hamas also won a major victory in its Gaza stronghold — the first time it had participated in the democratic process. This time Hamas is boycotting the vote as “illegitimate” over a long-running dispute with Fatah, much to the relief of its West Bank rival. But rather than enjoying a clear field, Fatah has found itself divided after several party members set up their own independent lists, eschewing those designated by the faction.
One of them is Ghassan Shakaa, a lawyer who comes from one of the most prominent families in Nablus and who served as mayor of the northern city for 10 years, heading one of the largest and most important Palestinian municipalities in the West Bank.
Shakaa, who stepped down as mayor in 2004, is now running for re-election at the head of an 11-strong list of Fatah candidates called the “Nablus National Independent” list, which is neck-and-neck with a rival Fatah list called “Development and Independence” headed by Amin Maqbul of the party’s Revolutionary Council.
A third list called “Nablus for Everybody” is backed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Shakaa’s decision infuriated the party, prompting its Central Committee to expel him and those on his list for failing to comply with party resolutions which limit electoral participation to designated lists.
In total, Fatah has expelled 45 members across the West Bank — 18 in the north and 27 in the south — for joining non-party lists.
“These are dissidents who had a fragile connection to the movement and are only looking for important positions,” Maqbul said.
Like many others, his concern is that by running on a separate list, it will dilute the votes and “undermine Fatah’s power, and could have a negative effect on the results.”
Following Hamas’ shock win in 2006, an internal Fatah report found that the reason it fared so badly was because some of its members had run on independent lists.
But Shakaa, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, denied he was fired, saying he had “already resigned” from Fatah over an internal dispute which was not connected to the party.