GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian government decided during its session on May 3 to hold local council elections in October in the West Bank, without indicating whether elections will be held in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which controls Gaza, insists on reaching a consensus on the mechanism and the date before holding any elections, as agreed upon by virtue of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Palestinian parties in Cairo on Sept. 26, 2014. The memorandum stipulates the need to create a suitable environment to hold the various elections, the implementation of all items of the internal Palestinian reconciliation to form a government and to integrate old and new public servants, among other subjects.

The Palestinian government had commissioned Minister of Local Government Hussein al-Araj to coordinate with the Central Election Commission to take all necessary measures to hold local council elections on time.

The legal mandate for local councils in the West Bank ends in October; the last local elections were held in the Palestinian territories in 2012 — in the West Bank only and not in Gaza as a result of the Palestinian internal division.

Under Palestinian Law No. 12 of 2005, in the event local council elections could not be conducted in one day, a decision may be issued to hold them in several stages. The law seems to have been amended because of the Israeli obstacles that have disrupted the holding of elections for some time — for example, those in East Jerusalem — and will also impact local council elections in October, which are being held only in the West Bank and not in the Gaza Strip due to the Palestinian division.