Sunday, February 19 2006 17:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Gaza City: The radical Islamist movement Hamas has chosen Ismail Haniya to be the next Palestinian Prime Minister after its recent landslide election win, the spokesman for their bloc in Parliament said today (Feb 19 2006).

"Hamas announces officially that our candidate to be prime minister is Ismail Haniya," Hamas deputy Salah al-Bardawil told sources.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas was set to hold talks with the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip later today where the faction was expected to formally inform Abbas of their choice.

"The movement will inform president Abbas of the choice and to tell him to declare the new government. The leadership of the movement, inside and outside Palestine, agreed to name Ismail Haniya as our first prime minister," al-Bardawil said.

Haniya had been widely tipped to be prime minister, having led Hamas to the landslide victory on January 25, their first ever election campaign.