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.”
#Palestine: #Abbas Forms Committee to Follow Up on Elections https://t.co/6IEf3HmQTa pic.twitter.com/XoF1NhAK5N
— Asharq Al-Awsat English (@aawsat_eng) October 3, 2019
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.”
Palestine’s Abbas to Pledge Elections at UN: Official https://t.co/CMUY6vBNBQ pic.twitter.com/rjeY15Jptb
— Ummah Affairs (@theummahaffairs) September 26, 2019
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.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
