Middle East - Palestinian election

Abbas should stand trial for election call, says Hamas

Article published on the 2009-10-24 Latest update 2009-10-24 11:24 TU

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (3rd R) attends Friday prayers in Ramallah
(Photo: Reuters)

Hamas has slammed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's declaration of elections on 24 January as "illegal and unconstitutional" and said that he should face trial for "usurping power". The Islamic movement's reaction will make it virtually impossible for people in the Gaza Strip, which it controls, to cast their ballots.

Abbas on Friday issued a decree calling on "the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to take part in free and direct presidential and legislative elections on Sunday 24 January 2010".

He instructed the election committee to prepare the poll.

But Hamas declared the move illegal because Abbas's term formally ran out in January this year. The movement then declared that it no longer recognised him as President.

Abbas "must be tried for usurping power," deputy Palestinian speaker Ahmed Bahar told a news conference in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

The election call was a "deliberate attempt to make divisions [between Palestinian factions] permanent", Hamas's Fawzi Barhum told the AFP news agency almost as soon as the decree had been issued.

Egypt has been trying to broker a reconciliation agreement between Abbas's Fatah and Hamas. Fatah has signed the deal but Hamas has repeatedly put off giving an official response.

Progress was further hampered by Abbas's initial failure to call for a UN Security Council of the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.

The election was expected to be held in June. Abbas this week told Egyptian newspaper editors that he will sign a new decree for a vote on 28 June, if Hamas agrees to the unity deal.