Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat

Fatah movement has urged for holding elections for the paralyzed Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) which has been controlled by Hamas.

Its call came after the failure of reconciliation talks between the two movements.

Member of Fatah's central committee Hussein al-Sheikh said that the PLC, which was elected in 2006, has been paralyzed by the Hamas coup since 2007.

Hamas turned against the PLC and the legitimacy, transforming it into a partisan council that follows specific agendas, killing the spirit of the Palestinian legislative institution, he explained.

“In light of the ongoing coup and the failure of all calls to end division, it is imperative to return to the ballot box and the choice of the democratic Palestinian people,” Sheikh stressed.

Fatah has been calling for legislative elections regardless of Hamas' approval, and without clear steps on how they can be carried out in the Gaza Strip or whether it can be held in stages.

Fatah said the elections guarantee “the rotation of power and keeping the institution, responsible for running the people’s affairs, alive.”

“An active PLC provides solutions to the people’s problems and enacts the necessary laws to build the institutions of the Palestinian state.”

Head of Fatah’s Information Department in the Office of Mobilization and Organization Munir al-Jaghoub said that the PLC has fallen victim to the coup.

Jaghoub explained that the Council has been transformed into a mere partisan front of a rebel faction, and has failed to tackle the people’s concerns and enact the laws that meet the demands of a society aspiring for development, democracy, freedom and the end of occupation.

“Experience has proven that the Hamas leadership does not believe in democracy, periodic elections or the transfer of power through the ballot box,” Jaghoub said.

“It continues to deal with the PLC as a source of income for its leaders at the expense of our people's suffering and deprivation of their right to elect a real council, which is capable of expressing their aspirations,” he added.