Hamas announced Thursday that it objects the court ruling annulling some municipal election results in the Gaza Strip which favored Hamas.
Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, believed to be the leader of Hamas in Gaza, said Thursday evening that his organization refuses to recognize a court ruling.ÂÂ
The court, based on presented election irregularities, decided Thursday to nullify the results of elections in seven of the 13 councils in the town of Beit Lahia and in the Bureij refugee camp.
‘These rulings are a plot that was born in the dark whose aim is to forge the will of the Palestinian people and rob Hamas of its achievements in local councils under the guise of a court ruling.’ Al-Zahar said at a press conference that
He also called for the dismissal of the panel of judges which called on re-elections.
The court ruling follwed a similar one on election results on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Hamas then said it would respect the court ruling.
Following the court ruling, the Supreme Committee for Local Election in Gaza told Reuters that the ruling in Beit Lahia meant 2,817 eligible voters would have to recast ballots within 10 days.
Votes in five of 42 Beit Lahia balloting stations were invalidated after complaints of irregularities. In Bureij, voting results in 12 out of 31 polling stations were cancelled.
In Rafah, the court voiced results in 51 of 141 precincts after irregularities surfaced in voter registration lists.
Fatah officials praised the ruling and awaited a third decision in a central Gaza precinct.
In the municipal voting, Fatah captured about 50 of 84 councils in Gaza and the West Bank. But preliminary results showed Hamas winning around 30, including larger towns such as Rafah and Qalqilyah in the West Bank.
