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Abbas forms commission to follow up on general elections

October 4, 2019 at 10:51 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas leads Palestine Liberation Organization board meeting in Ramallah, West Bank on 3 October 2019. [İssam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has formed a commission to follow up on the plan to hold elections in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), reported Asharq Al-Awsat.

The formation of the commission took place in a meeting of the Fatah Central Committee, at the beginning of which Abbas declared: “We will discuss the elections, preparations for holding it and measures that will be taken to achieve this goal.”

Fatah Central Committee member Samir Al-Rifai said that the task of the newly-established commission is to study the elections.

The report added that the Fatah meeting “is supposed to be followed by meetings of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO),”

According to Asharq Al-Awsat, Abbas plans to issue a decree announcing elections, but will first send “the head of the Palestinian elections commission to Gaza for consultations and will wait to assess the position on the possibility of conducting polls there.”

The Oslo Accords: the five-star Israeli occupation 

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) will “press” for elections in occupied East Jerusalem, prohibited by Israeli authorities.

Hamas has agreed to elections, with politburo member Khalil Al-Hayya telling the paper that his movement welcomes both presidential and legislative elections.

“He pointed out that the elections serve to solve crises and problems, noting that they are ready for such a milestone event and to accept the result given by the ballot boxes,” the report added.

“We will support legislative and presidential elections if announced. We prefer these elections to be held following a national consensus and we challenge Fatah and [President] Abbas to announce it.”