Abbas plans to call "elections"

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6904864.stm

Abbas 'to call for new elections'

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said he will call for new elections for parliament and the presidency.

The pledge came ahead of a meeting of the council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which is expected to back the move.

The Hamas militant group, which was removed from power by Mr Abbas after it seized control of the Gaza Strip last month, opposes any new elections.

Mr Abbas appointed an emergency government based in the West Bank.

Abbas will not be able to hold any election on the ground without a national agreement. These decrees, if issued, will be nothing but ink on paper.

Sami Abu Zuhri,

Hamas

He says he will not enter talks with Hamas until its takeover of Gaza is reversed.

Hamas won last year's parliamentary elections.

Last month's violence has left the Palestinian territories split into two - with Hamas running Gaza and Mr Abbas, and his Fatah faction, in control in the West Bank.

'Presidential power'

Speaking in Ramallah in the West Bank, Mr Abbas said: "This is part of the powers of the presidency, to issue decrees that will have the power of law. We will issue these decrees [for new elections] soon."

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Mr Abbas could not call an election without the agreement of all factions, including Hamas.

"He will not be able to hold any election on the ground without a national agreement," Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency. "These decrees, if issued, will be nothing but ink on paper."

Mr Abbas made his announcement at a joint news conference with the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

Mr Solana's visit is the start of a flurry of diplomatic activity.

On Thursday, members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators - the US, EU, United Nations and Russia - are meeting in Portugal.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, now the Quartet's envoy, is expected in the region in the near future.

Possible scenarios of "elections":

1. type used in communist nations and Nazi Germany--one candidate only
   
2. Pakistani "Basic Democracy" style elections ("Basic Democracy", a term coined by Ayub Khan to describe his system which was neither basic nor democratic)
   
3. Pakistani elections, style of 1972-1977/1988-1998 (the country's only actually valid democratic post-1951 election was in 1970--that tells plenty)
   
4. Arafat-style elections (rigged, not even secretly, so Arafat could never lose); some may consider this same as #1
   
5. Post-1971 Iranian-style elections (closest to #2, as mullahs always in control)
   

Edited July 18, 2007 by CherryXS

[almaty 19]

sounds desperate to me to try and defuse the lost of gaza to Hamas

[Saddle Bronc 124]

sounds desperate to me to try and defuse the lost of gaza to Hamas

(mentioned in the article's quote from Sami Abu Zuhri)

[almaty 19]

sounds desperate to me to try and defuse the lost of gaza to Hamas

(mentioned in the article's quote from Sami Abu Zuhri)

brother sriniv, a sad state of affairs there