After numerous delays, date set for Hamas elections
Organization leaders, including Haniyeh, gather in Cairo to vote on new political chief after Mashaal says he wants to retire
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleElhanan Miller is the former Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Hamas will hold elections to chose its new political leadership in Cairo Monday, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Sunday.
Unnamed sources told the news agency that Hamas’s current political chief, Khaled Mashaal, had arrived in Cairo from Qatar, along with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who arrived from Gaza. Other members of Hamas’s Shoura Council — the movement’s decision-making body — also reportedly arrived in Cairo Saturday from across the Arab world to take part in the vote.
The election of Hamas’s highest political position has been postponed numerous times since last April amid rumors that regional players were pressuring Mashaal to stay on for another term, despite his wish to retire.
The sources told Anadolu that the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian regime, Qatar and Turkey would all like to see Mashaal remain in office given “the complicated and dangerous situation the movement faces.”
Other candidates include Mashaal’s Cairo-based deputy Moussa Abu-Marzouq, as well as Haniyeh.
Hamas elects its political leadership every four years — from the regional command to the leadership of the political bureau — under a shroud of secrecy. Voters must belong to three regions; Gaza, the West Bank and “the diaspora.”
In January 2012, Hamas shuttered its political headquarters in Damascus. The movement’s leaders have been dispersed throughout the Middle East ever since.
The Times of Israel Community.