By Xinhua,
Gaza : Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday challenged President Mahmoud Abbas’ popularity which many polls showed that he gains more confidence than his Hamas rivals among the Palestinian people.
“As long as president Abbas’ popularity is high according to the polls, and since he enjoys the Palestinian citizen’s confidence, why he doesn’t call for presidential elections in its legal time in January?” said Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for Hamas.
Abbas’ term as a president ends on January 25, 2009, but Radwan said that Abbas “resorts to illegal justifications to remain on the presidency chair.”
A recent survey, conducted by Ramallah-based Middle East Consulting, showed that 74 percent of the Palestinians prefer Abbas’ Fatah strategy to achieve the national interests while 26 percent prefer Hamas’.
Up to 68 percent of the surveyed are confident with Abbas and 32 percent trusts deposed Hamas’ premier Ismail Haneya whose government rules the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas is not concerned with these polls because they are biased and inaccurate,” Radwan said. He reminded that before Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006, the polls mostly predicted that Fatah would beat Hamas.
Hamas, which drove out pro-Abbas forces from Gaza last year, said it will not recognize Abbas as a president after January 2009.