Hamas held secret electionsin which it picked Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh as the head of the organization’s political bureau in Gaza.

 
Hamas held secret electionsin which it picked Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh as the head of the organization’s political bureau in Gaza.

Israeli daily, Haaretz quoted  Hamas officials as saying that the utterly covert elections were held less than two weeks ago, in which voters elected the 77 members of the group's advisory council in Gaza, as well as the 15 members of the Strip's Hamas politburo, Gaza's most powerful political institution.

The daily added that the Hamas elections also marked several additional and interesting trends.
Yehia Sanwar, one of Jilad Shalit's abductors, and the brother of whom is considered to be one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, along with Rawhi Mushtaha, his one-time deputy, were both elected to the Hamas' political bureau in the Strip.

Razi Hamed, Ahmed Yousef, and Salah al-Bardawil did not succeed in getting elected, unlike members of the group's military wing, such as its head Mohammad Ali Jafari as well as Marwan Issa.
Furthermore, the former member of Hamas' Damascus bureau, Imad al-Alami, also was chosen as Haniyeh's deputy.