Hamas: Postponing elections is a confiscation of the will of the Palestinian people

Hamas denounced statements by Palestinian Authority leaders about the possibility of postponing the legislative council elections, considering it a confiscation of the will of the Palestinian people and manipulation of elections for narrow partisan considerations, and called for holding them on time.

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, through its official spokesman Hazem Qassem, denounced statements by Palestinian Authority leaders about the possibility of postponing the legislative council elections. Hamas considered that raising the option of postponement indicates the Authority's continued manipulation of the election issue for narrow partisan considerations and confiscation of the will of the Palestinian people. Qassem stressed rejection of keeping the Palestinian situation and political system arrangements hostage to a particular faction's leadership, warning that this approach has contributed to the presidency remaining without elections for over twenty years, along with continued disruption of legislative elections and failure to elect the Palestinian National Council. The Hamas spokesman called on all Palestinian forces to unite to prevent confiscation of the people's will and manipulation of the election issue, and to work to ensure free and fair elections covering all components of the Palestinian political system, with arrangements to hold the electoral entitlement on time to renew the legitimacy of institutions through the ballot box.