RAMALLAH, Feb 16: Hamas on Thursday chose Ismail Haniyeh, a leader widely viewed by Palestinians as a pragmatist, to be the next prime minister, a senior official said.

Mr Haniyeh, 43, headed Hamas’s list of candidates in the Jan 25 parliamentary election in which the movement scored a landslide victory.

“We have decided to nominate brother Ismail Haniyeh as the prime minister,” the official said after Hamas’s elected legislators met in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He added that the nomination was made after consultations with Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip.

Mr Haniyeh had been widely expected to get the nod. The movement was expected to present Mr Haniyeh’s nomination to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.

Mr Abbas would then ask Mr Haniyeh to form a government, based on a programme proposed by the president, a moderate who advocates a resumption of peace talks with Israel. Once Mr Haniyeh puts together a government, parliament would hold a confidence vote.

Many Palestinians see Mr Haniyeh as someone rival factions and ultimately Israel could do business with.

In an interview earlier this month, he said Hamas would honour commitments by the Palestinian Authority to Israel.

Mr Haniyeh, a Gaza resident, survived an Israeli air strike in 2003 targeting Hamas’s leadership at the height of the Palestinian uprising.

Following the election, Mr Haniyeh reached out to Mr Abbas’s defeated Fatah party and other factions to join a broad-based government.—Reuters