Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hinted Wednesday that he would soon issue a decree calling for new legislative and presidential elections in the Palestinian areas, according to dpa. Speaking to reporters after talks with European foreign policy chief Javier Solana, during which he discussed the recent violent takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Hamas movement, he said a Wednesday night meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council would discuss the elections issue. Elections could be called by presidential decree, he said, "and we will work on issuing these decrees very soon." Abbas responded to the Hamas takeover of the Strip - which he called a "coup" - by dismissing the Hamas-led national unity coalition, and in its stead appointed an emergency government headed by political independent Salam Fayyad. But the emergency government failed to win the backing of the 131-member Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council during the 30 days required by law, and it has been dismissed and replaced by a caretaker government, also headed by Fayyad. This government too needs the backing of parliament, but Hamas said Wednesday its lawmakers would vote no-confidence in it when the PLC met on Sunday. Previous attempts to hold a confidence vote on Fayyad's first, emergency, government failed when parliament was unable to gather a quorum. Some 43 legislators, the vast majority from Hamas, are currently in Israeli detention, and the Hamas lawmakers still free refused to attend any parliamentary session which would result in a Fayyad administration being ratified. However, if the available Hamas parliamentarians decide to attend Sunday's PLC session, a quorum will be achieved.
