Palestinian Authority (PA), PLO and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas said that the date of the upcoming elections is to be announced when holding “it becomes possible” in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Sputnik reported yesterday.
He told Sputkin:
“We are forming a new government. According to a Constitutional Court decision, we have started organizing legislative elections; we have instructed the central election commission to do this.”
President #Abbas ought to call for an urgent meeting of the PLO Development #Committee and form a national unity government from all factions, including #Hamas to oversee the general elections. https://t.co/3hq5r0Z9Go
— Spectrum News (@ProNewsViews) February 4, 2019
He added:
“We will announce the date of the elections as soon as it becomes possible to hold it in Jerusalem, in Gaza, and in the West Bank.”
Abbas continued:
“Organizing elections will help us unite better in the coming period and meet the challenges that stand in our way.”
In December, Abbas unilaterally and unconstitutionally announced the dissolution of the Palestinian parliament. Hamas and most of the Palestinian factions, including those who are members of his PLO, criticized the decision.
Recently, Israeli officials said they would never allow Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem to take part in any Palestinian elections.
Abbas was elected on a weak popular mandate, as Hamas and others boycotted the elections. His first and only term in office expired in 2009. For a whole decade, neither Abbas nor any government of his has operated with the minimum requirement of democracy https://t.co/rQfC5LBeyg pic.twitter.com/lFVA7cCc36
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) February 6, 2019
Hamas said yesterday that it would take part in the elections if they were carried out based on the reconciliation agreement reached in 2017 in Cairo.
“We will never take part in parliamentary elections if the presidential and Palestinian National Council elections were excluded,” senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said, noting this was agreed upon in the deal brokered by Egypt.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
