Today, Wednesday, Hamas announced its readiness to hold comprehensive and simultaneous elections according to a specific timetable agreed upon by all Palestinian parties, including elections for the National Council, the Legislative Council, the presidency, and local councils.
The movement's spokesman Hazem Qassem confirmed - during a press conference in Gaza - the movement's refusal to hold the "fragmented" municipal and village council elections that the Palestinian National Authority decided to hold next December, and the movement stressed the need to hold comprehensive elections.
He said, "The authority's announcement of fragmented village elections is considered a disregard for the national and popular situation, and a distortion of the general national path, of which Hamas will not be a part."
Qassem added that comprehensive elections are the right choice, and what must be done now is to reverse the cancellation of the comprehensive elections, and to return immediately to this path that reflects the reality of the aspirations of our people.
The spokesman of the movement indicated that the authority's decision comes at a suspicious timing, especially after disrupting the general elections, which reached an advanced stage, and submitted 36 electoral lists for it.
Hamas called on the Palestinian factions, civil society institutions, and popular gatherings to press for the expropriation of this right, and not to allow anyone to manipulate and fragment it.
She stressed that the Palestinian people will not lack the means to impose holding elections everywhere despite the occupation, especially in the city of Jerusalem, without further details.
Qassem called on the Palestinian Authority to abide by the national agreements regarding the elections, holding it fully responsible for the consequences of its unilateral decision.
Since 2007, a split has prevailed between Hamas - which controls the Gaza Strip - and Fatah - which controls the West Bank - and several mediations and agreements at the beginning of this year resulted in their agreement on the form and timing of the elections.
According to a presidential decree, the elections were scheduled to take place in 3 stages this year: legislative (parliamentary) on May 22, presidential on July 31, and the National Council elections on August 31.
But on April 29, President Mahmoud Abbas announced that it would be postponed until the Israeli authorities ensured that the residents of occupied Jerusalem could participate.