Elections committee to start meetings with Palestinian factions

The Palestinian Centra Elections Committee is to start meetings and discussions with Palestinian factions and NGOs in preparation for holding parliamentary elections, Wafa news agency reported on Tuesday.

Executive Director of the committee, Hisham Kuheil, said it is planning to send a delegation to carry out the needed discussions in the Gaza Strip after completing its meetings and discussions in the West Bank.

On Monday, Palestinian Authority (PA), PLO and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas asked the committee to “immediately” start meetings and discussions with the Palestinian factions in preparation for parliamentary elections.

He said that presidential elections might be held a couple of months after the parliamentary elections, prompting wide-scale criticism by factions who had proposed an initiative to end the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas that included holding parliamentary, presidential and Palestinian National Council elections.

Kuheil said elections should be held within three months of the issuing of a presidential decree.

READ: Hamas insists on simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections