Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas has concluded the first phase of leadership
elections.

The elections were said to have taken place amid increasing tension between the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and political bureau chief Khaled Masha’al.

Hamas sources said the Palestinian Islamic movement has completed
elections in the Gaza Strip. They said the elections garnered tens of
thousands of votes for the Hamas Shura Council.

The sources said Masha’al has run unopposed for a third term amid opposition by such Gazan leaders as Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and de facto Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar.

On April 15, Zahar and former Hamas envoy to Iran, Imad Al Alami left the Gaza Strip for Cairo. The sources said the talks would include such issues as relations with Egypt as well as power-sharing in the Hamas leadership.

Hamas has not issued any statement regarding elections. The sources said the results in the Gaza Strip would not be released.

“In a future stage, elections will take place around the region,” a
Hamas source said.

The sources said this month’s elections took about a week in the Gaza Strip.
They said the elections in the Gaza Strip were meant to have been conducted
parallel with polling around the Middle East.

Under the Hamas plan, voters would select local Shura councils, which in
turn would select the elite body. They said the Shura Council, now comprised
of 59 members, was meant to be expanded for the current elections.

  Gaza Strip, Hamas holds Shura council elections as leadership tensions build, Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Masha’al, Mahmoud Zahar, Shura Council