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Abbas did not give a new date for the parliamentary elections. (Reuters)
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By Samer Khuwayera, IOL
Correspondents
RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net)
– In a rather widely-expected move, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas postponed on Saturday, June 4, legislative elections, drawing
immediate rebuke from Hamas which was projected to sweep the vote.
In a public decree, the Palestinian
leader said he had decided to delay the poll, originally set for July
17, to allow time to resolve a dispute over proposed reforms to the
voting law.
"A new date will be set by
decree following consultations with the different Palestinian
movements and the adoption of a new election law by the Palestinian
legislative council," said an official statement from the
Palestinian Authority.
The date of July 17 had been set by
parliament speaker Rawhi Fattuh, who assumed the presidency following
the death of President Yasser Arafat until the election of Abbas.
The parliamentary vote would be the
first contested by Hamas and could signal an end of Fatah's
five-decade of political domination.
Hamas entered electoral politics for
the first time at the end of last year, securing a landslide victory
over corruption-tainted Fatah in the first-ever Gaza Strip council
elections in January.
Of the 118 seats on 10 councils, its
candidates won over 77 seats or 65 percent against nearly 22 seats or
26 percent for Fatah.
Hamas also beat Fatah in four out of
five major cities in the second stage of municipal polls last month.
"Unilateral"
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"The Palestinian people are once again being deprived of their right just to serve domestic and subjective interests," Ghazal told IOL.
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Hamas, widely expected to make a
strong showing in the legislative polls, slammed the postponement.
"President Abbas has repeatedly
talked about holding the elections as scheduled on July 17 and so did
several senior PA officials," Mohammad Ghazal, a leading Hamas
figure, told IslamOnline.net.
He criticized the PA for not
consulting with the different Palestinian factions before taking such
a "unilateral" decision.
"The Palestinian people are once
again being deprived of their right just to serve domestic and
subjective interests."
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the
resistance movement, said the decision "shows that the PA is not
serious about its commitments."
He warned, in a statement, that the
PA "risks causing chaos" and was bowing to demands from the
US and Israel to delay the voting.
Israel has went public with fears of
seeing Hamas assuming legislative and municipal powers, through
elections, in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Hamas had reacted to earlier hints of
a delay by accusing the ruling Fatah movement of maneuvering to cling
to power.
The postponement comes amid strains
between Fatah and Hamas that have already resulted in the postponement
of partial run-offs in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas refused to contest the new vote
in three Gaza Strip municipalities, ordered after Fatah demanded a
recount of May 5 local elections.
The resistance group won by a small
majority in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Beit Lahia to the north
and the central Al-Bureij refugee camp.
Two court rulings cancelled the vote
results in these areas, which prompted Hamas to charge that the
verdict was “politically-motivated under a judicial cloak.”
It cited counts by international
monitors, who did not report irregularities on election day.
