Israel Matzav

'Palestinians' postpone local elections

In keeping with their tradition of 'postponing' elections, the 'Palestinians' announced on Thursday that they will postpone local elections that were scheduled for July 17.

In a brief statement, the cabinet, which is stacked with Fatah members, did not say why it had decided to put off the election that had been scheduled for July 17, but the officials said it was because Fatah could not agree a unified list.

...

A senior Fatah member added: "What's happening inside Fatah is that there are people who are running against each other. We need some time in order to solve these internal problems."

Another official said there was also concern that a low turnout would be seen as a moral victory for Hamas, which defeated Fatah in 2006 legislative elections, the last held by the Palestinians.

Abbas had called legislative and presidential elections for January but they were postponed due to a Hamas ban on participation in the Gaza Strip.

Rick Richman comments:

Elections are tough to organize when there are people who are running against each other. The good news, however, is that once you solve the internal problems with a unified list, it is relatively easy to re-schedule the election, since there will be only one party in it. So this is probably simply a bump in the road to the vibrant democracy a Palestinian state would bring to the Middle East (along with peace), as Western-backed Mahmoud Abbas enters the 66th month of his 48-month term.

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:38 PM