RAMALLAH, Monday, January 11, 2021 (WAFA) – Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh today said that his government is looking forward to the presidential decrees that would specify dates for national and presidential elections in Palestine.

"The Cabinet looks forward to President Mahmoud Abbas issuing the decrees that would specify the dates for the elections in order to begin all necessary preparations for the success of the democratic process," said Shtayyeh at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah.

"We are happy with the positive atmosphere surrounding the elections, which we want them to be a gateway to renewing our democratic life and uniting the nation on the basis of right, freedom, social justice, equality and national partnership," he added, stressing that "the elections should set the foundation for a new phase." Shtayyeh called on the United Nations and Europe to pressure Israel to allow Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to participate in the elections, whether as candidates or by voting, "because this is their right on the one hand, and it is stipulated in the agreements on the other." President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to issue decrees for holding first legislative elections, to be followed by presidential elections, before January 20 following an agreement reached with Hamas movement and after meeting last week with the head of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission.

The last legislative elections were held in 2006, while the presidential elections that brought Abbas to power were held a year earlier.

M.K.