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Demand Grows for Third Party In Palestinian Elections

Demand is growing among Palestinians for a third party as an alternative to both Hamas and Fatah, writes Asmaa al-Ghoul.
A Palestinian updates his details at a centre run by the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC), in Gaza City February 11, 2013. The Palestinian Central Election Commission on Monday began registering voters in Gaza and the West Bank for an upcoming election hoped to help with healing nearly six years of political rifts among rival factions. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3DMQT
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Soft war is the right word for the registration for the elections in the Gaza Strip. In fact, the number of people who have registered for the elections has reached a rate that has exceeded the expectations of the Electoral Commission, which estimated that up to 330,000 of those over 17 years old would register. The rate of those who have registered up until last Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, however, reached 351,000 citizens, according to reports from the Central Election Commission.

Iyad Krunz, a representative of Fatah's Central Election Commission, says that the large number of people who have registered in the Gaza Strip is due to the competition between the parties, adding that there is something similar to a hidden war between them. Parties are encouraging their members to register, and party members are encouraging their acquaintances and family members to register in order to be able to bring about change.

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