The Palestinian government in the West Bank called Tuesday for local elections to be held in the West Bank and Gaza on October 20, the first since 2006, an official said. “The Palestinian government decided today during its meeting to hold the local, municipal and district elections on October 20th throughout the Palestinian territory,” the Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The decision followed two such calls for local elections last year, with the Palestinian government in the West Bank seeking to hold the vote first in July 2011 and then in October 2011. It was at first scheduled for July 9, but after a surprise reconciliation deal between the rival Fatah and the Hamas movements, the date was put back to October 22.
The deal, which was intended to end years of rivalry that has left the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority running the West Bank, while Hamas controls Gaza, called for legislative and presidential elections by May 2012. The two sides were meant to agree on an interim government of independents to steer the Palestinians towards those elections, but successive disagreements over the make-up of that government stalled the deal’s implementation.
Full Article: Palestinians call local elections for October 20 – FRANCE 24.