Palestine factions agree to carry out Gaza elections 

Six Palestinian factions have agreed to carry out municipal, student and syndicate elections, Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations reported on Friday.

According to the centre, senior official of the Popular Front Osama Haj Ahmed said that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, the General Command, the Palestinian Initiative and Al-Saiqa Organisation agreed to hold the elections within the coming six months.

Haj Ahmed said that the factions are planning to meet after the end of the holy month of Ramadan to discuss mechanisms for holding the elections in three stages.

The Popular Front’s official said that the six factions have not yet set a date for the elections, but stated that this would be decided during meetings held following the end of Ramadan.

Hamas rejected the Palestinian Authority’s decision to hold elections in stages and conditioned holding all Palestinian national elections together as per the agreement among all Palestinian factions.

After recent meetings held among the Palestinian factions, Hamas changed its position to give Palestinians an opportunity to take part in choosing their representatives in some national institutions.

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