By Ola Attalah
GAZA CITY
A senior member of the Palestinian faction Hamas on Saturday called for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories.
"Our movement is ready to head to the ballot boxes in the presidential and parliamentary elections," Mahmoud al-Zahar said in a statement that was published by the pro-Hamas website Al-Bayan.
He called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement to hold the elections with the aim of resolving the "current political crisis."
He said the Palestinian Authority President's movement could not hold the elections because it was not certain that the results would be in its favor.
When they signed a reconciliation deal in April of this year, Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections after six months. The six months came to an end on Saturday.
The deal led to the formation of a national unity government and ended seven years of division, one that ushered in two rival seats of government – in Gaza and Ramallah – after Hamas routed pro-Fatah forces in 2007 and took control of the entire Gaza Strip.
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