As Palestine prepares for its first major election in 15 years, rival factions have agreed on procedures for the upcoming polls as a popular movement announces its decision to boycott the historic elections.
Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas alongside 12 other Palestinian factions have agreed on steps aimed at ensuring Palestinian elections are held as planned later this year and pledged to respect their results, a joint statement said. According to the statement, the groups pledged “to abide by the timetable” for the long-delayed balloting and “respect and accept” the results.
The two dominant factions – Fatah holds sway in the occupied West Bank, and Hamas rules Gaza – convened on Monday for talks in Cairo to prepare for parliamentary elections on May 22 and a presidential vote on July 31.
The factions also revealed the institution of an “electoral court” comprising of judges from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. This court, it said, would be responsible for ruling over election-related disputes, “monitoring all matters relating to the electoral process, its results, and the issues arising from it.” It also said “the uniformed Palestinian police, and no one else”, will guard voting sites in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and “their presence will be in accordance with the law”.
Islamic Jihad Backs Out
Meanwhile, the Palestinian movement known as Islamic Jihad announced that it will not take part in the presidential and legislative elections due to be held later this year.
Speaking through a statement, the group said, “We will not take part in the elections under the Oslo agreement which undermined the rights and principles of the Palestinian people”, adding that it believed “the best start of true Palestinian unity would only be achieved through a united Palestinian political program, the rearrangement of the PLO on national bases and carrying out Palestinian National Council elections far away from the parliamentarian elections.”
The movement, however, reassured the public that it “will not put obstacles ahead of carrying out the elections.”
No election in Palestine has been conducted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem for 15 years amid a deep rift between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group and the Hamas movement.
