Public Opinion and Political Response in Palestine ─ Leadership, Campaigns and Elections Since Arafat

The 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, the first in which both Fatah and Hamas fielded candidates, resulted in a resounding victory for Hamas. Winning 74 out of the 132 seats (compared to Fatah’s 45), Hamas’ election strategy had proved effective against Fatah’s ineffectual campaign and failure to properly consider public opinion. Erika Schwarze offers here an in-depth examination of these two separate campaigns, and how Fatah’s lack of responsiveness to the popular mood in the run-up to elections following Arafat’s death and beyond, led to its defeat in spite of its considerable experience of electioneering. She analyses the conduct of Palestinian leadership during this critical period, exploring the reasons for Fatah’s inability to prioritise responsiveness to public opinion, and providing insights into the movement’s electoral prospects in the future and its chances of survival and revival.

Erika Schwarze worked in Palestine throughout the 1990s, including managing civic education programmes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for the German Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in the run-up to, and following, Palestine’s first parliamentary elections in 1996. She holds a PhD in Middle East Politics from the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University and now works on Indigenous environment programmes for the Australian Government.