Palestinian CEC says ready for holding elections

The Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Sunday that it is ready for holding the general parliamentary and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories.

It said in a statement that the committee is ready for a presidential decree that sets up a date for holding the elections in Gaza, West Bank and east Jerusalem, in accordance with the Palestinian elections laws and regulations.

"The committee finalized the process of registering those who have the right to vote and has a list of 1,951,799 of male and female voters," said the committee in a press statement sent to reporters.

It said that the list is 78.6 percent of the whole populations in the Palestinian territories who have the right to vote. The record was modified and renewed during the first week of March, said the statement.

"The number of females who have the right to vote and already registered is 951,652, while the number of males is 1,147,000," said the committee.

The last presidential elections were held in 2005, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won the late leader Yasser Arafat, while the last parliamentary elections were held in January 2006.

Last June, a unity Palestinian government was formed between Abbas Fatah Party and Islamic Hamas movement, which won the last parliamentary elections in 2006.

The agreement reached between the two rival groups was to form a unity government and after six months hold presidential and legislative elections.

However, deep disputes between the two sides obstructed the process of holding the elections. Endit