GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas has set three prerequisites for its participation in the Palestinian local elections, scheduled to take place on May 13, after rejecting the call of the Palestinian government Jan. 31 to hold the elections across the Palestinian territories. Hamas considered this invitation as a response to the failed electoral process that was scheduled to take place in October 2016.

Hamas submitted its conditions to the Central Election Commission during a bilateral meeting between the two sides in Gaza City on Feb. 15. Hamas demanded that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas release the security grip on the movement in the West Bank and create a sound environment that would ensure integrity, transparency and respect for the freedom of elections, cancel all the decisions and decrees he issued in relation to the local elections, and finally resort to the Palestinian Local Elections law of 2005.

The presidential decree issued Jan. 10 provided for the formation of a local elections court, after amending the Local Elections law of 2005, authorizing the court to look into electoral appeals instead of the courts of first instance in the governorates, as stated in Article 1 of the law. This decree was rejected by Palestinian factions at the time.

The amendment comes in response to the dispute between Hamas and Fatah when the courts of first instance in the governorates of the Gaza Strip canceled several electoral lists for Fatah on Sept. 8, 2016, as various candidates were accused of some legal offenses. Fatah considered this decision to be an attempt to politicize the judiciary and refused to recognize these courts.