Nearly seven out of ten Palestinians living in the West Bank city of Nablus supported holding early presidential and legislative elections to solve the current crisis, said a poll conducted in Nablus, which was released on Sunday.
The poll, which was done by the research center of al-Najjah University, claimed that if elections were held now, Hamas movement would gain 15.1 percent while its rival Fatah would garner 42 percent of the votes.
It showed that 68.6 percent of the respondents believed that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the sole and legitimate representative of all the Palestinians.
The poll also found that 50.8 percent believed that Hamas should join the PLO executive committee.
About 60.8 percent of the polled expressed concerns that what happened in the Gaza Strip last month could happen in the West Bank in the future, while 68 percent expressed pessimism towards the current situation.
The poll said it has questioned 1,361 adults, adding that 861 are from the West Bank and 500 from the Gaza Strip. The marginal error of the poll was 3 percent, while 3.4 percent refused to answer the questions.
The Palestinian territories was undergoing a deep crisis after Hamas took the Gaza Strip on June 14 following days of bloody fighting with Fatah.
As a result, the geographically-divided Palestinian territories have been politically split into two parts -- with Hamas controlling Gaza and Fatah holding the West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would "use the constitutional authorities to issue special decrees of early presidential and parliamentary polls."
Yet Hamas, which enjoyed a majority of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was opposed to the idea of holding early presidential and legislative elections.
Source: Xinhua
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