The two prominent Palestinian parties, the ruling Fatah movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), are competing hard to seek victory in the coming legislative elections due on January 25.

The Fatah-Hamas competition had already been after polls in Gaza and the West Bank had shown that there is a trend among the Palestinians to look for a third independent party.

Noticing that many Palestinians get bored of them to seek for a third moderate and independent party, both movements have started to act publicly in a way that each of them wants to, at least, keep the same support they gained in the past.

The competition has mounted in the recent weeks after both started to prepare for the coming battle of the January 25 election.

Palestinian analysts admitted that there is a trend that is aiming to form a third moderate and independent party, but they insisted that a third party will never succeed in the coming battle of election.

Hamas boycotted the last legislative election held in January 1996, saying that it rejects joining the election because it was one of Oslo agreements secretion.

But the movement, which had already joined the municipal election in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, has decided to participate in the legislative elections to be held next month.

"Some Palestinians found out that a third party, to be independent and moderate would be much better for them than Hamas and Fatah movements, but still the two movements are representing a majority among the Palestinians,"said Rajab Abu Serreya, a Palestinian writer and analyst from Gaza.

He added that a third party compressed of Palestinian intellectuals and is led by the elite, referring to people like Hanan Ashrawi, Sallam Fayyad and Yasser Abed Rabbo, was no chances to achieve an overwhelming majority that one day would be an alternative to the big two competing movements.

Ashrawi is an independent woman member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Fayyad is the minister of finance and Abed Rabbo is a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

A poll published on Monday by the Nablus-based Palestinian Center for Political Polls and Surveys revealed that if the legislative elections are held today, Fatah would get 50 percent of the PLC seats and Hamas would get 34 percent.

The poll didn't focus on a third moderate and independent party, but on who is the most prominent leader after President Mahmoud Abbas, or who is fit to be a deputy to the president, saying it was Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader jailed in an Israeli prison.

The poll also showed that there is an increase in the support of Fatah movement, especially in the Gaza Strip and a drop in the support of Hamas movement

In addition, another poll was conducted earlier this week by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (GMCC) focused on the third party that a majority of Palestinians would be vote for it, which said that there is at least 40 percent among the Palestinians who want to vote for an independent moderate party.

But Hamas noticed the increasing number of Palestinians seeking to form a third party and began to prepare the lists of candidates that will run the coming election, in a different way from other parties to guarantee a suitable triumph in this battle.

It was reported that Hamas has chosen candidates who are well-known as respected, religious, conservatives and highly educated, mainly university professors and physicians, and put them on its lists to run in the election.

L'ai Daloul, a Palestinian expert in Hamas affairs said that Hamas is trying to get as many as possible of the votes in the election, by introducing those figures in big communities to guarantee a victory in the election.

"In other areas, where Hamas doesn't have enough support, it decided to go in coalition lists with independent Palestinians, who are also respected in these communities and are not satisfied with the performance of the PLC," said Daloul.

He added that Hamas has included in its lists some Palestinian Christian candidates to show Hamas is not an extremist movement that neglects other religions, which is changing its strategy and wants to be the alternative of any third moderate and independent.

In the meantime, Fatah tried to imitate Hamas in choosing its candidates that will run in the election. However, the disputes over choosing those who won in the primaries or those were nominated by late leader Yasser Arafat would weaken Fatah movement and affect the results after the election to be held.

"We should wait and see. Every Palestinian has to say his word, and the results of the election would be the decisive thing to say who is a winner and who is a looser,"said Daloul.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2005)