Sinwar has been re-elected for a new term until 2025, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
Sinwar won 167 of 280 votes, sources told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds.
Sinwar’s victory came less than 24 hours after Gaza sources announced that Nizar Awadallah, a Hamas veteran, had defeated Sinwar in the terrorist group’s secret internal election.
Shortly afterwards, Awadallah, 63, was declared the winner, but Hamas announced that a second round of voting would be held on Wednesday because he and Sinwar could not get more than 50% of the total votes.
Awadallah and Sinwar were among five candidates contesting Hamas’ secret internal election. The other three candidates were Mahmoud Zahar, Fathi Hammad and Ziyad al-Thatha.
Sources close to Hamas said the neck-and-neck race posed an unprecedented challenge to Sinwar’s leadership. He was first elected in 2017 as the group’s leader in the coastal enclave.
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“The fierce struggle between Sinwar and Awadallah could cause a crisis under the Hamas leadership,” a Palestinian political analyst told The Jerusalem Post in the Gaza Strip.
According to the analyst, the tough race is also a sign of Sinwar’s declining popularity among Hamas cadres in the Gaza Strip.
Hamdel spokesman Abdel Latif Qanou said the secret ballot was conducted in a “transparent, competitive and democratic manner”. The decision to hold a second round, he added, “reflects the strength of Hamas and its respect for its regulations.”
Sinwar, 58, was said to be the mastermind behind the 2018-2019 Hamas-sponsored mass protests hosted near the border with Israel. The protests ended without reaching their main goal: lifting Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
His 63-year-old rival, Awadallah, was one of the engineers of the 2011 Gilad Schalit exchange agreement, according to Palestinian sources.
The deal, also known as Wafa al-Ahrar (Faithful to the Free), led to the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Schalit, an IDF soldier abducted in 2006 by Palestinian terrorists who crossed the border into Israel near the Border Crossing of Kerem Shalom.