For the first time in many years, a list affiliated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has lost the student council election at Bethlehem University.
The defeat came on the eve of the second phase of the municipal elections, which are scheduled to take place on Saturday in major Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
الشبيبة طول عمرها بتفوز في انتخابات جامعة بيت لحم وبتاخد من ١٩ لـ٢٠ مقعد، واليسار باخد من ١٠ لـ ١١ مقعد تقريبااليوم يفوز اليسار بـ ١٧مقعد وتتراجع الشبيبة وتخسر خسارة مذلة وتحصل على ١٤مقعدالجيل الصاعد اصبح يمتلك من الوعي ما يكفي ليعاقب قوائم العتلات المدعومة من الاجهزة الامنية pic.twitter.com/cp4XjlHgub
— مش هيك (@meshhek) March 23, 2022
The results of the Bethlehem University election are regarded as a serious blow to Abbas and the PA and Fatah leadership. In the past, Fatah-affiliated lists at other Palestinian universities were defeated by supporters of Hamas, the terror group controlling the Gaza Strip.
Hamas continues to enjoy a large popularity among Palestinians in the West Bank, especially university and college campuses.
The results of the student council election at Bethlehem University are seen by Palestinian political analysts as a sign of the widespread discontent with the PA and its ruling Fatah faction.
According to the results, a list consisting of supporters of various radical groups, including the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), won the majority of the seats in the student council.
The PFLP – founded in 1967 by George Habash, a Christian – has always had a strong following in Bethlehem and Ramallah.
The election was held on Wednesday.
The list, called Students’ Voice Bloc, won 17 seats, while the Fatah-affiliated Al-Quds and Al-Awdah (Jerusalem and the Return) received only 14.
Bethlehem University said in a statement that the vote was held “in a democratic atmosphere.”
It said that only two student blocs competed in the election. The first consisted of the PFLP and other groups strongly opposed to any peace process with Israel, while the second represented Abbas’s Fatah faction.
فوز الجبـ ـهة الشعـ ـبية في انتخابات مجلس طلبة جامعة بيت لحم وحصلت على 17 مقعداً مقابل 14 لكتـ ـلة فتـ ـح pic.twitter.com/ViPQTnAxLz
— مرصد الأخبار _ فلسطين (@marsadalakhibar) March 24, 2022
The number of students entitled to vote in the election reached 2,844, according to the university. However, only 1,859 students (63%) participated in the vote.
According to the university’s election committee, the PFLP-dominated Students’ Voice Bloc got 974 votes, while its rivals in Fatah won 805.
In their election campaign on campus, Fatah’s rivals condemned the murder of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat, who was beaten to death by PA security officers in Hebron in June 2021.
They also accused the PA and Fatah leaders of being responsible for financial and administrative corruption and blocking elections for the Palestinian parliament and presidency.
Political activist Hamdi Khader said that the election results show that the Palestinians “want change.”
“This is a positive sign because it proves that the Palestinians are unhappy with the PA and Fatah,” Khader said. “That’s why President Abbas last year decided to cancel the parliamentary and presidential elections. He was afraid that Fatah would be humiliated and defeated.”
Salah Udwan, a former student at Bethlehem University, said that he and many Palestinians see the outcome of the election as “a first step towards regime change in Palestine.”
The PFLP welcomed the results of the vote, saying they constituted a “victory” for all those who support the fight against Israel and who refuse to make any concessions.