The President of the last elected Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Aziz Dweik, said Thursday that the deteriorating political and security situations in the Palestinian arena calls for urgent general elections.

Sanad News Agency

July 28, 2022 - 14:29

Link to the news (in Arabic)

The President of the last elected Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr. Aziz Dweik, said Thursday that the deteriorating political and security situations in the Palestinian arena calls for urgent general elections.

 

Dweik added in a press statement: "The elections are the means agreed upon by the people to get rid of the problems they face and to achieve progress."

 

He said, "The state of security peace in the West Bank does not bode well, and therefore we are supposed to go back to what we agreed on previously to hold elections at all levels."

 

He also stressed the importance of the elections "in light of the continued Israeli occupation illegal settlement of the west Bank, Judaization of lands and historical, cultural and religious places, and daily aggressions on the Palestinian people."

 

He also stressed that " the Palestinian Authority decision makers and officials are required to take a courageous decision, and return to what was previously agreed upon regarding the elections."

 

And he added: "It is not acceptable to make excuses in any situation, and elections must be held in order for the people to have their say and hold their leaders accountable for the above practices."

 

It's important to highlight that the last presidential elections in the Palestinian territories were held in 2005, while the last legislative council elections were held in 2006. Currently, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (also the presidentof PLO and Fatah) withholds all powers after he dissolved the Palestinian Legislative Council, whose majority are from his major rival Palestinian political movement, Hamas.

 

At the end of April 2021,  Abbas postponed the long awaited legislative elections, which were scheduled for May the same year, until “it is guaranteed that they will be held in East Jerusalem" as he phrased it.