solarbird | (Reply)

From:

The other problem with saying "Hamas have repeatedly beaten Fatah" is that there haven't been any non-local elections since 2006, and Hamas keeps refusing to hold them in Gaza, and boycotts them elsewhere. In the last national-level elections in 2006, Hamas won by around 3% (with an outsized representation due to districting), while Fatah won the presidental election just a a year before.

The last round of local elections (West Bank only, Hamas refused to conduct elections in Gaza or participate elsewhere) saw 65% independent slates with 35% going to individual parties.

It's been 19 years since the last real national elections, and there's still no sign of a reasonable election in sight. What would actually happen? Fuck if I know.

All I'm saying is that "Hamas keeps beating Fatah" is not supported by what little election data we have and what few elections have actually occurred, none of which have involved full or fair competition since at least 2006.