Hamas, Fatah agree to hold simultaneous municipal polls

Hamas and Fatah decided to hold municipal elections in the Palestinian territories after agreeing on postponing their date, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

This decision came after the two movements suddenly reached an initial agreement for reconciliation in Cairo earlier this month.

Azzam Al-Ahmad, a Fatah official, said that his movement and Hamas agreed to demand the upcoming technocratic government, which they will form according to the Cairo agreement, to postpone the elections so they are held simultaneously in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Due to the political split between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank, the Palestinian government of Salam Fayyad in Ramallah called for the elections in July, but Hamas banned any measure to hold the polls in Gaza. As a result, the elections were planned to take place only in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commissions said it can run the elections in July in the West Bank, but needs more time to prepare for holding them in Gaza. The CEC agreed that voting in Gaza and the West Bank at the same time is possible after July.

Source: Xinhua

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