RAMALLAH, January 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The Palestinian resistance group Hamas won an absolute majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament, almost the double of long-dominant Fatah's share, according to official results announced on Thursday, January 26.

The Change and Reform list of Hamas garnered 76 seats in the 133-seat Palestinian Legislative Council, nearly 57.6 percent of the seats up for grabs, Hanna Nasser, the head of the Central Election Commission, told a press conference.

He said the resistance group won 30 seats at the national level and 46 others in constituencies.

Of the 132 seats in parliament up for grabs, 66 were elected on a constituency basis and 66 via proportional representation-style lists.

Before the announcement, officials in both Hamas and Fatah concurred the resistance group appeared to have captured a large majority of seats in Wednesday's legislative elections, the first in a decade.

"The Change and Reform list is advancing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a top Hamas leader, told IslamOnline.net earlier Thursday.

"Hamas has won over all other runners in the polls."

Acknowledging the defeat, Premier Ahmed Qorei and his cabinet ministers resigned Thursday hours before the announcement of the results.

Under the law, President Mahmoud Abbas must ask the largest party in the new parliament to form the next government.

Hamas captured all seats up for grasp in the constituencies of Salvit, North Gaza and Tubas.

It won eight out of nine seats in Al-Khalil (Hebron), four out of six in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem), four out of five in Khan Yunis, four out of five in Ramallah, five out of eight in Gaza City and five out of six in Nablus.

The ruling Fatah movement, meanwhile, won 27 seats on the national level and only 16 of the constituencies.

It won exclusively in the constituencies of Ariha (Jericho), Rafah and Qalqilya.

Among the high-profile Fatah losers were national security advisor Jibril Rajub and former information minister Nabil Amr.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) won three seats while another leftist coalition, Al-Badil, won two seats.

The Independent Palestine list, led by presidential election runner-up Mustapha Barghuti, won two seats.

Two seats were taken up by the Third Way coalition, whose chief candidates were outgoing finance minister Salam Fayad and the former peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi.

Only four independent candidates were voted to the legislature.

On Wednesday, exit polls showed Hamas had won at least 53 seats and that Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for decades, had got 58.

The election results would put Hamas in a position to set the shape of the future Palestinian government.

Chief negotiator Saeb Erakat, a winning Fatah candidate, said Abbas will ask Hamas to form the new government.