Mahmoud Abbas decrees first Palestinian elections in 15 years

By: AP | Gaza City (palestine) |

Updated: January 16, 2021 10:19:22 am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree Friday, setting parliamentary and presidential elections for later this yr in what can be the primary vote of its form since 2006, when the Islamic militant group Hamas received a landslide victory.
Elections would pose a serious danger for Abbas’ Fatah occasion and likewise for Hamas as each confronted protests lately over their lack of ability to reconcile with each other, advance Palestinian aspirations for statehood or meet the fundamental wants of these within the territories they govern.
Fatah and Hamas have been publicly calling for elections for greater than a decade however have by no means been capable of mend their rift or agree on a course of for holding them, and regardless of Friday’s decree, it remained removed from clear whether or not the voting would truly be held.
Elections may additionally complicate President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to revive help to the Palestinians and to revive the peace course of with Israel.
The 2006 election victory by Hamas, which is taken into account a terrorist group by Israel and Western nations, led to heavy worldwide strain being positioned on the Palestinian Authority. Clashes between Fatah and Hamas raged for greater than a yr, culminating in Hamas’ 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip, the place it nonetheless reigns regardless of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade and three wars with Israel.

The decree units a timeline through which legislative elections can be held on May 22, adopted by presidential elections on July 31, the primary since Abbas was elected to a four-year time period in 2005. Elections for the National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which represents the Palestinian trigger internationally, can be held Aug. 31.
Abbas handed the decree to Hanna Nasir, the pinnacle of the Central Election Commission.
There was no instant response from Hamas.