The Hamas-run interior ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday that it will ban the organisation of elections called for by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the coastal territory. 

"The ministry will hold accountable anyone involved in the elections," the interior ministry said in a statement. 

The ministry "rejects the holding of elections in the Gaza Strip because they were announced by someone who has no right to make such an announcement and because they came without national agreement," it added. 
"Any preparations, any committees, any collecting of names will be regarded as an illegal action that we will pursue," said Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain. 

He said the ministry had instructed local officials not to cooperate with Abbas, whose secular party dominates political life in the West Bank but has been all but driven out of Gaza. 

Hamas said its decision would include banning the current Central Election Commission (CEC), which has five offices in Gaza, from operating on orders from Abbas. 

Ghsain said the current CEC was no longer entitled to carry out preparations for an election, since Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah had agreed in Egyptian-mediated unity talks that a new body should be formed. 

In the West Bank, the CEC meanwhile asked staff who worked on past elections to get in contact in the West Bank and Gaza in order to prepare for the forthcoming campaign. 

Last week Abbas called for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on January 24 after an Egypt-brokered reconciliation agreement was not signed by Hamas that wants more time to study it. 

Abbas issued a decree ordering elections in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. 

Hamas rejected the decree as an "illegal and unconstitutional step" without the agreement of Hamas and other factions. 

Abbas was elected on January 9, 2005 for a four-year term. The Palestinian Authority extended his presidency by one year so presidential and parliamentary elections could be held on the same date, "as required by Palestinian Basic Law." 

Hamas has consistently rejected the extension granted to Abbas, and no longer considers him to be the legitimate president of the Palestinian people. 

The Egyptian proposal made earlier this year would see new elections being held in June 2010. Fatah has signed the accord but Hamas said it needs more time to study it. 


Agencies