The official Palestinian News Agency said that President Mahmoud Abbas will issue election decrees no later than January 20, after the National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) agreed to hold the Legislative Council, Presidency and National Council elections, respectively.
The agency added that Abbas discussed yesterday in Ramallah with the Chairman of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, Hanna Nasser, the dates for the legislative and presidential elections and the National Council.
She added that Nasser presented a proposal for specific dates for holding the elections, without the agency providing details of the proposed dates.
The Palestinian News Agency stated that another meeting will be held a week later with the Central Elections Commission, for the Palestinian President to issue the election decrees, followed by a dialogue between the factions about the electoral process.
According to the agency, Abbas reiterated the importance of strengthening national unity through a free and fair election process.
The development comes a week after Hamas agreed to hold the three elections (legislative, presidential and those related to the National Council of the Liberation Organization), respectively, after it was stressing the need for all of them to take place simultaneously.
The head of the political bureau of Hamas sent a message in this regard to President Mahmoud Abbas, who welcomed the movement's new position on the elections.
Hamas justified its new position as a response to the interventions of 4 countries (Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and Russia), and to its receipt of guarantees from these countries that the three elections will be held consecutively within 6 months, and that they are supervised to ensure their integrity.
Shortly after Hamas retreated from the condition of synchronization, a responsible source in the movement told Al-Jazeera Net that the current move towards reconciliation came at the initiative of Abbas himself, who formally requested the four countries to intervene with Hamas to resume reconciliation efforts and end the division that has continued since mid-2007 through the election portal.