JERUSALEM, October 4, 2016 (WAFA) – A United Nations official welcomed on Tuesday the government decision to postpone elections until they could be held in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the same time.

"I welcome today‘s decision to postpone local election,” said Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, in a statement commenting on the decision to postpone municipal elections.

“It is in the national interest of the Palestinian people that when such elections take place, they be organized both in the West Bank and Gaza,” he said.

The cabinet decided on Tuesday to postpone elections, originally planned for October 8, for four months after the Supreme Court ruled on Monday to hold them in the West Bank only with the exclusion of the Gaza Strip.

“I urge all Palestinian bodies to work together in good faith to overcome internal divisions and uphold democracy,” Mladenov said.

“Local elections, conducted in line with established international standards, must contribute to advancing Palestinian reconciliation based on PLO principles as well as to ending the occupation and establishing a democratic, unified Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-state solution," he said.

M.A.