By Xinhua,
Ramallah : A public opinion poll on Monday showed that half of the surveyed supports prefer to hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously in the Palestinian territories when the term of the parliament ends.
The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) ends in 2010 while the term of current president Mahmoud Abbas ends in January next year.
Hamas said it will not recognize Abbas as a president after that while Abbas’ Fatah movement said an earlier decision has amended the law to hold the next presidential and parliamentary elections at the same time in 2010.
The poll, conducted between Oct. 2 to 6 by Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (JMCC) said 51.4 percent of the sample agrees on holding coincident elections while 36.5 percent said they want the presidential elections to be held separately in 2009.
The survey, on a sample of 1194 people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Meanwhile, the poll said the popularity of Fatah and Hamas, the major Palestinian factions, still unchanged.
Up to 24.7 percent of the people said they will elect President Abbas if new elections are held while 19.5 percent said they will vote for Marwan al-Barghouti, a senior Fatah official imprisoned by Israel. Only 17.3 percent said they will elect Ismail Haneya, Hamas’ prime minister whose deposed government controls and rules the Gaza Strip.
As Egypt works on settling a crisis between Hamas and Fatah, 47.7 of the people expected that Cairo will succeed in brokering a deal on forming a Palestinian national unity government replacing Hamas administration in Gaza and the western-backed government which rules the West Bank.