Poll shows popularity jump for Palestinian President Abbas (Roundup)

Middle East News

Jun 9, 2008, 13:40 GMT

Ramallah - The popularity of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has jumped among residents of the Palestinian territories, according to two recent polls that showed that a majority of people would oppose his resignation. One poll conducted by the Near East Consulting Company said that 73 per cent of Palestinians in the occupied territories trust Abbas while 27 per cent trust deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, reports said Monday. The poll was conducted between May 24-27 among 830 randomly selected persons. Some 36 per cent said that the next Palestinian president will be Marwan al-Barghouti, a senior Fatah leader jailed by Israel. Meanwhile, 65 per cent of the surveyed believe that the status of Islamic Hamas movement has worsened since it contested and won January 2006 elections. At the time of the poll, 59 per cent recognized the legitimacy of the government of pro-Abbas Premier Salam Fayyad while 24 per cent saw Haneya's government as the legitimate one. Abbas fired Haneya's government last June when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force. Abbas also formed a Western-backed government headed by Fayyad while Hamas ignored Abbas' decisions. As for Hamas' efforts to broker a ceasefire with Israel via Egyptian mediators, 85 per cent agreed with the idea of a ceasefire while 74 per cent supported a peace treaty with Israel Another poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) said 43 per cent of Palestinians would vote for Fatah, which lost the last legislative elections to Hamas, if new elections were to held today, while Hamas would get only 31 per cent of the vote.

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Poll shows popularity jump for Palestinian President Abbas (Roundup)

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