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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Abbas sets Palestinian polls date | Abbas sets Palestinian polls date |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on 24 January. | Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on 24 January. |
| His office said in a statement that the polls would take place across the Palestinian territories, including the rival Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. | His office said in a statement that the polls would take place across the Palestinian territories, including the rival Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. |
| Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, which runs the West Bank, has so far failed to reach a reconciliation with Hamas. | Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, which runs the West Bank, has so far failed to reach a reconciliation with Hamas. |
| The Palestinian leader's presidential term expired earlier this year. | |
| Hamas officials said Mr Abbas's election call would deepen divisions between their faction and Fatah. | |
| "This is an illegal and unconstitutional step because Abu Mazen's [Mr Abbas's] tenure is over and he has no right to issue any decree concerning this," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP news agency. | |
| Hamas won a landslide victory in the last parliamentary elections in 2006. | |
| A bitter power struggle between Fatah and Hamas ensued, and in 2007 Hamas staged a violent takeover of Gaza. | |
| In recent months Egypt has tried to broker a unity deal between the two factions. | |
| Hamas has so far refused to sign up to Egyptian proposals accepted by Fatah, though Hamas officials have denied stalling on an agreement. | |
| Mr Abbas had said he would call elections even if no unity deal was reached. |