GAZA, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Palestinian Islamic Hamas group Saturday denounced the results of the third round of municipal polls in the West Bank that brought a Fatah majority.
In a statement issued in Gaza, Hamas said the results, in which the mainstream Fatah movement won 53.7 percent of the municipal council seats, "reveal some fraud."
The head of the Palestinian election committee, Jamal Shawbaki, said earlier in the day that Fatah won 547 seats in the polls held on Thursday, while Hamas came in second with 265 seats, or 26.3 percent.
He added the results gave Fatah control of 51 municipal councils, Hamas grabbed 13 and other coalition lists of a number of political factions won 40 councils.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri told United Press International the election committee was not neutral when it announced a victory for Fatah "illegally... because they were declared according to the names of the factions, not according to the lists."
However, he insisted his group achieved progress in the third round of elections despite what he described as the crackdown against Hamas activists in the West Bank.
Abu Zahri said the fourth phase of the local elections will be more decisive because they will include the larger cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
