Abbas: Local elections to go ahead as planned in West Bank

President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that local elections would go ahead as scheduled in the West Bank. Abbas' Palestinian Authority announced on July 10 that it would hold elections on Oct. 20, a decision denounced by Gaza's Hamas rulers who said the "unilateral step" undermined reconciliation. Earlier, Hamas had suspended voter registration in the Gaza Strip. Abbas met Tuesday with a coalition of independent political figures headed by Munib al-Masri at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah and told the delegation the vote would go ahead in the West Bank. He said he hoped there would also be a vote in Gaza. The president and Fatah leader said his leadership remained committed to reconciliation treaties signed with Hamas. The factions signed a unity deal in Cairo in May 2011. In February, Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal signed a deal in Doha to form a unity government of independent technocrats to be headed by the president, but the agreement has not been implemented.