Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he would call snap presidential and parliamentary elections in the New Year if reconciliation talks with the Islamist movement Hamas failed.
But Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since June last year, swiftly rejected his threat, saying he had no powers to dissolve the parliament, in which they won a large majority in the last elections in 2006.
The Palestinian president stressed that he remained committed to Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks with Hamas, which the Islamists walked out of earlier this month accusing his security forces of rounding up their supporters in the West Bank.
But he warned that if the talks failed to bear fruit, he would call snap elections.
“If the dialogue does not succeed, then at the start of next year we will issue a presidential decree calling parliamentary and presidential elections,” Abbas said.
In a move aimed at strengthening Abbas’ hand, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council later on Sunday elected him “president of the state of Palestine” in a symbolic vote.
Hamas swiftly contested the new title.
“The president of the state is elected by the people, not by a body with no legitimacy such as the PLO Central Council,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.
It was not immediately clear what powers Abbas, who is also PLO chairman, would use to dissolve parliament early.
The Palestinian basic law does not give him that right as president of the Palestinian Authority, something that Hamas was quick to seize on.
“The law does not give any authority to the president on parliament and nobody can dissolve it before” elections are due in 2010, Taher al-Nunu, another spokesman for the Hamas administration, said in Gaza.
“We hope the dialogue will succeed and that the president’s office will create a conducive atmosphere by freeing the prisoners in the West Bank,” he said.
Hamas accuses Abbas’ security forces of holding more than 600 of their elected officials and supporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
RSS