General elections for the PA presidency and parliament will be held in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on January 24, 2010, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced in a presidential decree Friday.
Abbas's move is likely to deepen the rift with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. It follows the failure of reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas, which would have postponed the vote until June.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the president's decree calls for elections in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. But it remained unclear how Abbas's faction intends to organize the balloting in east Jerusalem or in the Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Hamas promptly condemned the decision, with its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying Abbas' government can't hold the elections in Gaza.
"This announcement means that elections will take place only in the West Bank, cementing the Palestinian split instead of fixing the problem," Abu Zuhri said.
Relations between Fatah and Hamas collapsed after Hamas violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007, leaving Abbas governing only the West Bank.
Egypt failed this week to get the two sides to another round of talks in Cairo, where it hoped they would sign a reconciliation deal.
Abu Rdeneh said that without a Fatah-Hamas agreement, Abbas is constitutionally bound to hold elections in January.
Recently reported surveys show Abbas having lost support to Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, with them each now commanding about 16 percent of the Palestinian public as opposed to a month earlier when Abbas pulled twice that figure.
The change has been ascribed to Abbas's decision earlier this month, following US pressure, to delay by six months the consideration of the Goldstone Report before the UN. The move triggered furious Palestinian criticism and calls for him to resign. Abbas later reversed the decision.
Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.
jpost
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Show/Hide comments
