Ramallah, West Bank ? Hamas fared better than expected in Palestinian elections Wednesday, exit polls showed, raising the prospect that the ruling Fatah Party might be forced to form a coalition with the Islamic militant group that calls for Israel’s destruction. The outcome could put Mideast peacekeeping at risk.

Fatah had said before the first parliamentary contest in a decade that it would rather team with small parties than join forces with Hamas, which has carried out dozens of terror attacks against the Jewish state and whose presence in the government would likely cause friction with Israel, the U.S. and Europe.

But with the militants making a strong showing in their first legislative run, Fatah would need the backing of an array of smaller parties to cobble together a government. Because some of the smaller parties have ties with Hamas, Fatah might not be able to court enough of them to form a coalition firm enough to survive the Palestinians’ domestic challenges – and face Israel again at the negotiating table.

Supporters from both the Hamas and Fatah parties campaign outside a polling station where Palestinians cast their vote for the parliamentary elections Wednesday in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

An exit poll by Bir Zeit University in Ramallah showed Fatah winning 63 seats in the 132-member parliament with 46.4 percent of the vote and Hamas taking 58 seats with 39.5 percent. Smaller parties received 11 seats, according to the poll of 8,000 voters in 232 polling stations. The poll had a one-seat margin of error.

A second survey showed Fatah beating Hamas 42 percent to 35 percent, or 58 seats to 53. Official results are due today.

“Neither Fatah or Hamas can form the Cabinet on its own, so they need to get into a coalition with other factions or with each other,” said pollster Khalil Shikaki, who carried out the second survey.

Palestinians wait as their names are checked on a list to vote Wednesday in parliamentary elections at a polling station in the West Bank village of Halhul.

Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Authority negotiator who won re-election to parliament in his West Bank home town of Jericho, indicated that options were open.

“It’s premature to speak now about the shape and form of the Cabinet,” he told The Associated Press, “but I can tell you that this will be the beginning of a new Palestinian political life, a new horizon.”

Before the election, pollsters said the race was too close to call. Hamas made a stronger showing than the 30 percent that many pollsters expected.