RAMALLAH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Holding the Palestinian presidential and legislative elections on May, as it was agreed upon in the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation pact signed in Cairo last year, "is practically impossible," the executive director of the Palestinian Central Elections said Thursday.
There is a bunch of obstacles that made the agreed principle to hold the general elections in the Palestinian territories on May 2012 "practically impossible," Hisham Keheil said in an interview with Xinhua.
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and the Islamic Hamas movement as well as all other Palestinian factions agreed in the reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo in May last year to hold the general presidential, legislative and Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections on May 2012.
In a comprehensive meeting held in Cairo in last December, leaders of the Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, reiterated the date of May 2012 for holding the general elections. However, Keheil said that the major obstacle "is the need for a legal decision to decide holding it."
"This can be only done when the Palestinian elections law is modified because according to Cairo agreement, the factions agreed to hold the elections with 25 percent of it according to the constituencies system and 75 percent according to the lists system, " said Keheil.
He stressed that the elections law, which was used in the last legislative elections of 2006, "must be modified and bear in consideration the two systems, the constituencies and the lists, adding that 33 seats has to be for the constituencies and 99 seats for the lists in the 132-seat parliament.
The Palestinian factions had agreed in Cairo to modify the elections system according to the understandings they had reached, following the argument of Fatah and Hamas on the elections system. Fatah wanted to grant the full lists system and Hamas rejected, until the two sides agreed to make it 25 percent for constituencies and 75 percent for lists.
"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a presidential decree to reactivate the central elections committee, but he hasn' t yet issued a decree on the understanding the factions reached concerning the constituencies and lists system of the elections," said Keheil.
He added that in addition to the legal obstacles, "there are logistic obstacles that obstructs the committee's activities, especially in the Gaza Strip." The deposed government of Hamas, which rules the coastal enclave, had violently shut down the offices of the central elections committee after 2007.
"Right now we are holding intensive contacts with all the concerned parties to reactivate the committee's offices and activities in the Gaza Strip," said Keheil, adding that the committee would need at least six weeks to be ready and this would include renting five offices for branches of the committee in Gaza.
He went on saying that his team would need to renovate the old offices of the committee in Gaza as well as reconnecting the branches of the committee in Gaza and the West Bank with the new connection and internet system with the main headquarters of the central elections committee in Ramallah.
"This would also need an update to the registration of the population, who have the right to vote," said Keheil. The record wasn't renewed since Hamas had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and routed President Abbas' security forces.
In addition to the six weeks the committee needs to overcome the legal and logistic needs, "we would need another 90 days for the parties and movements to prepare itself for the elections days, " Keheil said, adding that "the elections can never be held on time in May this year."
"If we hurry up in opening the new branches of the central elections committee, resolving all the legal and logistic obstacles and renewing the record of the populations, we will be able to set up the proper date for holding the general elections," said Keheil.
However, he clarified that the decision of holding the elections or setting up a date for holding it is not made by the central elections committee, adding that the committee's mission is to offer technical consult to the higher authorities, including recommending on the date of elections.
The date of holding the elections is in itself a challenge to both Hamas and the PNA, which haven't yet agreed upon forming the interim unity cabinet.
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