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Hamas’ student wing deplores university elections postponement

April 5, 2018 at 1:28 am

Students who support Hamas gather to attend the debate held ahead of the student council elections, at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, West Bank [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

The Islamic bloc, Hamas’ student wing, has expressed its resentment at a decision to postpone the elections of student councils in the Palestinian universities and colleges until after the Palestinian National Council (PNO) convention.

The Council of Higher Education, headed by the Palestinian education minister Sabri Sidem, announced yesterday during its weekly meeting that the elections of student councils in universities and higher education institutions will be postponed until after the PNO convenes on 3 May.

On his part, the head of the Islamic bloc in the Gaza Strip, Ashraf Al-Ghafri, criticised the decision, describing it as “serving the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security agenda which exploits the student elections as a powerful tool to passively affect a democratic election process for the student union.”

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Al-Ghafri noted that the election postponement decision is a methodology by the PA to “oppress the Palestinian students.”

“We expected the elections to be held periodically in all Palestinian universities,” Al-Ghafrti added

“It is weird to link the student council elections to the PNO convention,” he said, explaining: “This step aimed at achieving special goals.”

The Hamas official called on students to “avoid disputes with the universities’ management,” stressing that the decision “has nothing to do with for the universities’ administration.”

“Students have the right to express their opinions freely and democratically and to choose their representatives in the various student council,” Al-Ghafti reiterated.