President Mahmoud Abbas postponed what would have been the first Palestinian elections in nearly 20 years, issuing a decree on Friday to further delay voting for the Palestinian Legislative Council almost another year.
Palestinians have not held a legislative election since 2006, when Hamas won a majority of seats. Dahlan had previously been driven from Gaza by Hamas and was exiled in 2010 after a falling-out with Mr. Abbas has served as president since 2005 and delayed several presidential and legislative elections throughout his tenure.
The internationally backed body is dominated by Mr, Abbas’ party, Fatah, and has administered semiautonomous parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since agreements reached in the 1990s. It has grown increasingly unpopular throughout Mr. Abbas’ presidency. Many Palestinians view it as corrupt and criticise its security cooperation with Israel. The decree came after a committee of top Palestinian officials met Saturday morning to discuss postponing the vote. The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee, which Mr. Israel and Western countries then boycotted its government, fuelling months of unrest that led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza the following year. Power has been divided between Gaza and the West Bank in the two decades since, with Hamas in control of Gaza and Mr. Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in power in the West Bank. But behind the scenes, veteran officials had been in talks to join forces and take aim at Mr. Abbas. An unlikely alliance had emerged between Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a bloc led by former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Mr.
Abbas heads, said in a statement that conditions in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were not conducive to holding elections, noting that Israel had not allowed election materials or international observers to enter Gaza. “Abbas is terrified by the electoral alliance bringing our faction together with opposition factions and forces within Fatah that reject his leadership,” Dimitri Dilliani, a spokesperson for Dahlan’s faction, said in a statement.
Before the postponement, leading factions had not registered slates to contest the election.
