Middle East: The Palestinian Election Commission announced yesterday that it did not have sufficient time to prepare for legislative elections, again raising doubts as to whether the elections will be held on the scheduled date of July 17th.
The latest development comes amid growing tensions between the Fatah ruling party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the opposition Hamas party over the date for elections, and only days ahead of the visit by Mr Abbas to Washington where he will meet president Bush for the first time since taking office in January.
Mr Abbas has vowed on a number of occasions to hold the elections on time, but the independent election body said yesterday it needed at least two months from the time a new election law is ratified to make the necessary electoral preparations.
The Palestinian leader, however, is locked in a dispute with lawmakers over the new Bill: he wants more members of parliament elected from party lists rather than directly in constituencies, but some members of his Fatah party fear this will play into the hands of Hamas.
Tension between Fatah and Hamas is already high over efforts by the ruling party to have the courts reverse several results in recent municipal elections in Gaza that went Hamas' way.
The radical Islamic organisation has fared well in three rounds of municipal voting since last December, and there are growing fears inside Fatah that Hamas will make major gains in the parliamentary elections as well.
But Mr Abbas, who has declared his commitment to political reform and sees it as a way of winning international support and ultimately reviving the shattered peace process, wants to stick to the election date in order to fulfil his goal of bringing Hamas into the political process and ensuring they stick to a ceasefire that began four months ago.
Mr Abbas, who on Thursday will meet Mr Bush, is hoping the US president can be persuaded to put pressure on Israel to begin implementation of the road map peace plan.
Adviser Dov Weisglass, who is in the US with the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, is expected to meet administration officials today and tell them that there should be no gestures to Mr Abbas until he agrees to dismantle militant groups.
Mr Sharon is not on an official visit.