RAMALLAH, August 22, 2011 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Monday postponed the local councils' elections scheduled to be held in the West Bank on October 22.

This is the third time elections had been postponed mainly because Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has refused to allow them to be held there before Hamas and Fatah reach final reconciliation.

In a statement issued by Abbas' office, it said that elections will be postponed 'until suitable conditions for holding them in all the Palestinian Territory exist.'

It said that 'the decision came in line with the postponement of forming a national unity government in an effort to end internal division and achieve reconciliation … and to give the Central Election Commission enough time to get ready to conduct nationwide elections.'

R.Q./M.A.