GAZA, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A senior leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Wednesday that the group would reveal its nominee for parliament speaker at the inauguration session of the newly-elected legislature slated for Saturday.

    Atef Odwan, a Gaza-based senior Hamas leader who is also a lawmaker, said that the group would "wait until Saturday to reveal who has be chosen (as parliament speaker)."

    "Saturday is going to be a decisive day," he added, while refusing to confirm earlier reports which said that Azeez Dweik, a Hamas leader from the West Bank city of Ramallah was elected as the new speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The reports also tipped Mahmoud al-Zahar as head of Hamas in the council.

    "We don't want to create any kind of confusion over nominationson the legislative council secretariat," he said. "The reports could be true and could be untrue."

    Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, has won the Jan. 25 legislative elections by a landslide and held 74 seats in the 132-member parliament.

    The long dominant Fatah movement, which is now led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has suffered a crushing defeat in the polls and only managed to garner 45 seats. The newly-elected parliament is scheduled to hold its first session on Saturday, during which the speaker, two deputies and a secretary are expected to be elected.

    With a majority of parliament seats, Hamas will easily push through its nominees in the parliament. Enditem