Fatah and Hamas agree on holding elections

 Secretary-General of the Central Committee of Fatah Movement, Jibril Rajoub, said today that Fatah and Hamas, the two main factions in Palestine, have reached a consensus on holding the elections based on the system of proportional representation.

"We have conducted an intensive national strategic dialogue at the Palestinian Consulate in Istanbul, and we reached a clear vision of the mechanisms for building national partnership through proportional representation elections, starting with the Legislative Council elections, then the presidential elections, and finally the National Council," Rajoub told official Palestine TV. 

The Fatah Secretary General said voting will be held wherever possible, while in areas where holding an election is not possible, the factions will have to reach a consensus on the mechanism of representation.

He added, "We are waiting for the invitation of President Mahmoud Abbas to the secretary-generals of the Palestinian factions to endorse the principle and confirm the mechanisms, starting with the issuance of the presidential decree and until the final stage."Rajoub said the secretary-generals of the Palestinian factions will be required to meet in a week to agree on the mechanisms to continue the process of building the national partnership, based on the statehood project and the popular resistance to confront the "deal of the century", the Israeli annexation plan and the normalization wave."Building national unity is a strategic goal of the agreement, and is our path to elections. The democratic process is the only way to build our political system," he stressed.