The results of the Birzeit University Student Council elections, which were held on Wednesday, showed an unprecedented progress for the Islamic Wafa bloc, the student arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in the occupied West Bank.
At the conclusion of the vote counting, the Deanship of Student Affairs at the university announced that the Islamic bloc had obtained 5,068 votes, equivalent to 28 seats out of the 51 seats in the Student Council, while the competing Student Youth Bloc obtained 3,379 votes, equivalent to 18 seats.
The Progressive Student Pole, representing the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, won 888 votes and won 5 seats.
The Student Unity bloc, the student arm of the Democratic Front, won 132 votes, and the Progressive Student Union bloc, the student arm of the People's Party, won 76 votes.
During the counting details, the Wafa bloc advanced by a clear difference in the five boxes in which the students cast their votes, which qualifies it to form the council alone in its current session 2022-2023.
The five student blocs competed for 51 seats in the Student Council Conference.
These elections come two years after they were suspended due to the Corona pandemic, and the last elections were recorded equalizing the Islamic bloc and the Fatah Youth with seats and providing 70 votes for the youth.
This victory comes despite the campaign of persecutions and threats against the cadres of the Islamic bloc at the university, and the arrest of 7 of its students by Israeli special forces after their participation in the electoral debate.
The occupation also sent letters to the students' families threatening them to arrest their children if they voted for the Hamas bloc.
The results of the Birzeit University elections are an indication of the trends of the Palestinian street in the West Bank, which makes it the focus of great attention and follow-up.