Waiting for the results of the West Bank and abroad .. Hamas ends its internal elections in the Gaza Strip, and there are two women in the political office

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced Sunday the end of its internal elections for the Gaza Strip.

This came in a statement by the movement after the movement’s Shura Council held a meeting for the Gaza region as part of the completion of the electoral process.

The statement indicated that the Shura Council elected the members of the political bureau of the movement in the Gaza Strip (16 of them), the members of the administrative body, and the heads of the supervisory committees emanating from the Shura Council.

He added that the leader, Khalil al-Hayya, was chosen as deputy of Sinwar, while for the first time a lone woman became a member of the Political Bureau, Jamila Al-Shanti.

Hamas explained that the head of the women's movement, Fatima Shurrab, has also become, by virtue of her position, a member of the Political Bureau.

Adnan Abu Amer, a professor of politics and media at the Islamic University of Gaza, said that the arrival of two women to the movement’s political office means that Hamas wanted to "give a positive signal to the international and regional community by changing the stereotype, and confirming that it is an open movement."

The movement’s statement indicated the selection of Osama al-Muzaini as head of the Shura Council of the Gaza Strip, and Maher Sabra as assistant to the head of the movement’s administrative body.

Historic leaderships

Among the elected members were a number of prominent and historical leaders in the movement, including Nizar Awadallah, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Khalil al-Hayya, Rouhi Mushtaha, and Fathi Hammad.

The recent elections have also resulted in new faces in the membership of the Political Bureau, such as Ghazi Hamad and Issam Al-Dailis.

And on Wednesday, the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, announced the election of Yahya Sinwar as the head of the movement in the Gaza Strip for the second time in a row, after he was elected in 2017 to the same position for a four-year term.

A source in the movement stated in a statement to Anadolu Agency that the remaining stages of the internal elections for Hamas are taking place in parallel in the occupied West Bank and the overseas region (outside the Palestinian territories).

The source - who preferred not to be named - expected that all stages of the elections would be completed within the next few weeks.

According to the internal election system of Hamas, members of the Shura Council elect half of the members of the Political Bureau, while the head of the movement in the region (Gaza) appoints the other half, provided they are approved by the Shura Council.

Hamas began its internal elections on February 18, 2021, and is scheduled to conclude at the end of March with the election of the head of the movement's General Political Bureau.