Khaled Mashaal speaks in Doha, Qatar, August 28, 2014. (AP/Osama Faisal/File) The last Hamas internal vote was conducted in 2017. Haniyeh took the top spot at the time, replacing Mashaal, who had held the post since 1996. Haniyeh had previously served as Hamas’s Gaza chief. The announcement that Mashaal is to serve as Hamas’s second-in-command, and as head of its diaspora division, makes it more likely that Haniyeh — with no obvious challenger in sight — will serve another four-year term as chief of the organization’s political bureau. Unlike Fatah elections, which are festive events, drawing large crowds to public polling places, the Hamas vote is held in secret. The full results are expected to be released later in April.