Ramallah, Jan. 26 (JMCC) - Four years after Hamas won an upset victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, prompting swift international sanctions and a Western-led diplomatic boycott, the mandate for the parliament it dominated officially expired on Monday.

While Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, its popularity here has waned as residents become increasingly desperate under a tight Israeli blockade. While the United States, the European Union, and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, the Islamist movement had cultivated broad public support with its popular social programs ahead of the last elections. Anger at corruption within Fatah also fueled their victory.

But after four years of governing, during which Gaza's economy collapsed, Hamas' fortunes have changed. A December poll released by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Survey and Research (PCSR), found that only 27 percent of respondents in the West Bank and Gaza said they would vote for Hamas in parliamentary elections. In contrast, 43 percent said they would vote for Fatah, which has recognized Israel and is the dominant force in Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority...

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