24/10/2009 Hamas on Saturday accused Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of usurping power after he called presidential and legislative elections for January.
Abbas, whose presidential term expired in early 2009, "must be tried for usurping power," deputy Palestinian speaker Ahmed Bahar told a news conference in the Gaza Strip.
Late on Friday Abbas issued a decree calling elections on January 24, in a move seen as turning up the heat on Hamas to sign an Egyptian-brokered deal for Palestinian unity.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum swiftly rejected the move, branding it illegal and unconstitutional.
In the last parliamentary elections in January 2006, Hamas won a sweeping victory over the previously dominant Fatah, something that upset Abbas’ camp, the Israeli, the Americans and some Europeans, and led to the blockade of Gaza.
The decree calling elections "has no value whatsoever from a constitutional point of view," Bahar said, noting that Abbas's tenure expired in January.
Abbas was elected on January 9, 2005, for a four-year term. The Palestinian Authority extended his presidency by one year so that the next presidential and parliamentary elections could be held on the same date.
According to the Palestinian constitution, once the president’s term expires, authority moves to the Parliament Speaker, which meant to Hamas.
Hamas has consistently rejected the extension granted to Abbas by the Arab League and does not consider him the legitimate president of the Palestinian people.
Abbas announces Jan. 24 as Election Day
Posted by realistic bird under Politics Tags: Abbas, elections, Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, news, Occupation, Politics, US, West BankLeave a Comment
Seriously who is Abbas’s advisor? Fire him! Where do they get these ideas?
Oh wait right they come from the Israelis and the US admin.
There is no amount of threatening, treason or collaboration will ever let Abbas and his lot get rid of Palestinian rights or force the Palestinians to give up their rights. You can’t have an election where you don’t control. The absurdity never ends!
Fri, 23 Oct 2009, Press TV
Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas announces presidential and legislative elections will be held on Jan. 24 in both the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
The announcement came in a Friday statement by Abbas’ office, inviting the Palestinian people in Jerusalem (Al-Quds), the West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip to “take part in free and direct presidential and legislative elections on Sunday January 24, 2010.”
Hamas has refused to sign the reconciliation deal due to serious issues missing in the agreement, and urged further talks on the reservations it still has with Egypt.
The decree is viewed to be aimed at rushing the rival Hamas movement into signing a Cairo-brokered unity deal with the Fatah faction led by Abbas, whose presidential term expired in early 2009.
In the last parliamentary elections in January 2006, Hamas won a sweeping victory over Fatah.
However, the Western-backed Fatah later launched a coup against the democratically elected Hamas government and established its own rule based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The move prompted Hamas to limit its rule to the Gaza Strip under mounting pressure from the US and Europe to step down, and despite a crippling blockade on the populated coastal sliver.
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