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Palestinian elections scheduled for May and July, first in 15 years

2021-01-15T20:59:01.260Z


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday (January 15th) announced the organization of legislative and presidential elections in May and July, the first since 2005, in a context of rapprochement between his secular party, Fatah, and its Islamist rivals Hamas. Read also: Israel-Emirates Agreement: Palestine rebels and denounces a "treason" The armed movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip,


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday (January 15th) announced the organization of legislative and presidential elections in May and July, the first since 2005, in a context of rapprochement between his secular party, Fatah, and its Islamist rivals Hamas.

Read also: Israel-Emirates Agreement: Palestine rebels and denounces a "treason"

The armed movement Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip, welcomed this announcement and considered that "

the Palestinian people have the absolute right to choose their own leaders and representatives

".

The last Palestinian presidential election took place in January 2005 and the last legislative elections in January 2006, before internal divisions between Hamas and Fatah froze Palestinian political life.

Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, issued "

a presidential decree on the holding of general elections in three stages

", according to a statement released in the evening by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The legislative elections are scheduled for May 22 and the presidential election on July 31, according to the text.

The election for members of the Palestinian National Council, the Parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), will be held on August 31.

In September 2020, Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold elections "

within six months

", as part of a dialogue between Palestinian factions aimed at joining forces against the normalization agreements reached. , under the aegis of the American administration of Donald Trump, between Israel and Arab countries in recent months.

"

In all transparency

"

"

We have worked in recent months to overcome obstacles and achieve

" such an announcement, Hamas said in a statement, calling for "

free

elections

where voters can express themselves without pressure and without restrictions, in full transparency.

".

During a meeting with President of the Election Commission Hanna Nasser in Ramallah, Abbas called on the commission and government bodies to "

launch a democratic election campaign in all parts of Palestine, including East Jerusalem

," according to Wafa.

It was not immediately clear whether Israel, which has occupied and annexed East Jerusalem, a Palestinian part of the city, will allow Palestinian residents to vote.

The Palestinians aspire to make the eastern part of Jerusalem the capital of the state they aspire to.

But Israel sees Jerusalem as its “

unified and indivisible

capital

.

Read also: Israel-Palestine: with

Fauda

, the conflict continues in series

Abbas's announcement "

was eagerly awaited, it is a very important step to launch the electoral process

," said Arif Jaffal, director of the Observatory for Democracy and Elections in the Arab World Al-Marsad.

New mandate?

Abbas, 85, who had repeatedly pledged an election, did not say on Friday whether he would run for his own succession.

In 2005, after the end of the second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli army, and the death of historic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Abbas won the presidential election.

A year later, his rivals Hamas won the legislative elections.

Abbas's Fatah and Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas Islamists then clashed in the streets of Gaza.

Hamas then took control of the enclave in 2007, while Fatah imposed itself in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Until September, the two movements remained at loggerheads.

Two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, an impoverished enclave under Israeli blockade.

In the West Bank, where Abbas's Palestinian Authority rules, more than 2.8 million Palestinians live alongside more than 450,000 Israeli settlers.

The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are separated by Israeli territory.

Several municipal elections have been held since 2005 but only in the West Bank and without the participation of certain factions such as Hamas.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-01-15

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