GAZA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hamas authority in the Gaza Strip is likely to choose the new head of its politburo during a meeting in Egypt next week, sources said on Sunday.
The selection will be based on the results of the secretive elections that the Palestinian movement held among its members in the Palestinian territories, Israeli prisons and Diaspora this year.
The current politburo chief, Khaled Mashaal, and Prime Minister of Hamas authority, Ismail Haneya, are the key candidates for the position, according to the sources, which are close to Hamas.
The new members of the politburo will meet in Cairo next week to settle the argument over the head of the political bureau, the second highest institution of Hamas after the Shura Council.
On Monday, a Hamas delegation headed by Mashaal will arrive in Cairo to meet Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and Haneya left for Cairo from the Gaza Strip Sunday and will meet Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil.
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belongs, and was treated with hostility by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The meeting of the Hamas politburo will be held on the sidelines of the meetings between Hamas officials and the Egyptian leaders.
Earlier, Mashaal said he does not want to run for a new term in the leadership of the politburo, but the members of the politburo "hoped that he will change his mind," according to a Hamas statement in January.
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