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A first: Hamas partakes in presidential elections

Hamas has announced that it is seeking a consensus candidate for the presidential elections, raising questions about the possibility of agreeing with Fatah on a name.
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On Nov. 29, Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas' political bureau and head of its media department, announced that Hamas had informed the Palestinian factions — without specifying when — that the Palestinian people needed a national figure for the presidential elections, agreed upon by the national majority. He added that Hamas is indeed pushing in this direction, provided that the candidate is supportive of the resistance program, and he ruled out the possibility of this figure being affiliated with Hamas.

This is the first official position that Hamas has expressed regarding the presidential elections; it boycotted them in previous rounds, on Jan. 20, 1996, when Yasser Arafat won, and on Jan. 9, 2005, when Mahmoud Abbas won. The movement refused to run a candidate or vote.

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