A student coalition affiliated with Palestinian faction Hamas yesterday won student union elections at Ramallah’s Birzeit University for the first time since 2007.
The pro-Hamas Al-Wafaa Bloc won 26 seats in the university’s student council, while the bloc affiliated with rival faction Fatah clinched only 19, according to university official Mohamed Ahmed.
The pro-Fatah Al-Shabiba Bloc won last year’s student union elections, picking up 23 seats in Birzeit University’s student council against 20 for Al-Wafaa.
It is the first time that the pro-Hamas bloc has won student elections at a university in the West Bank – considered a Fatah stronghold – since 2007.
Senior Hamas leader Moussa Abu-Marzouk said the election results reflected the strength of the resistance movement.
“It shows that youth believe that resistance [to the Israeli occupation] is the right path for the liberation of Palestine,” Abu-Marzouk wrote on Facebook.
Hamas says its supporters in the West Bank are subjected to frequent crackdowns by the authorities.
Palestinian factions see student union elections as indicative of their relative street popularity.
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