Palestine: Natnl Assmbly election: Exit polls suggest Hamas a close second behind Fatah

Many prognisticators were saying Hamas would receive about a third of the popular vote in the elections sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, for the political entity's first National Assembly. While President Mahmoud Abbas will not be affected directly by the vote, his party (and that of former terrorist leader Arafat) apparently has been denied a majority. So, to form a government, the two leading parties must acknowledged one another, if not themselves form a coalition. There are several smaller parties who may make up the difference to put Fatah clearly in power.

An exit poll by Bir Zeit University in Ramallah showed Fatah winning 63 seats in the 132-member parliament with 46.4 percent of the vote and Hamas taking 58 seats with 39.5 percent. Smaller parties received 11 seats, according to the poll of 8,000 voters in 232 polling stations. The poll had a one-seat margin of error.

A second survey showed Fatah beating Hamas 42 percent to 35 percent, or 58 seats to 53. Official results are due Thursday.

"Neither Fatah or Hamas can form the Cabinet on its own, so they need to get into a coalition with other factions or with each other," said pollster Khalil Shikaki, who carried out the second survey.

Fatah is a mildly-secular party, while Hamas is a cleric-run religiofascist party, and it remains to be seen what stewardship of its role in government and/or the National Assembly it will opt to undertake. - Politicarp