Final results released on Thursday evening by the Palestinian Central Election Commission showed Hamas won 76 seats in 132-seat parliament, with the Fatah garnering 43 seats. The thirteen remaining seats went to several smaller parties and independents.
On his part, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he was committed to negotiations with Israel.
Abbas also suggested that future negotiations with Israel would be conducted through the Palestine Liberation Organization.
"I am committed to implementing program on which you elected me a year ago," he said in a televised speech. "It is a program based on negotiations and peaceful settlement with Israel."
"We are going to reactivate the role of the PLO," Abbas said.
He noted he remained committed to previous peace deals with Israel and the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state. "I am committed to implementing the program on which you elected me a year ago," he said in a televised speech. "It is a program based on negotiations and peaceful settlement with Israel."
Meanwhile, prominent political leader of Hamas, Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar stated that the Palestinian future will be better in the light of the elections' outcomes.
Zahhar confidently asserted "results of the election would provide more job opportunities in the PA government ministries and even security institutions to many of Hamas members and the Palestinian people as a whole in many sectors, especially the educational, security, and health sectors, which in the past were off-limits to Hamas and many eligible citizens".
"There is no doubt that results of Wednesday's elections will have its consequences in ending Fatah's monopoly of the political Palestinian decision-making as we in Hamas will sincerely work to exterminate all seeds of corruption in the PA institutions for the best of our Palestinian people", he added, emphasizing, "The elections' outcome constitutes a big slap to the Americans and Israelis that will find no way but to deal with Hamas and offer more compromises".
He pointed out that he had met some American and European delegations, including supervisors of the election, quoting them as saying "statements made by Javier Solana, EU external policy commissioner, weren’t indeed representing the Europeans' real opinion".
