GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to hold legislative elections within six months, the first since the last Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. This comes in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, which Abbas announced Dec. 22 during the meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, providing for the dissolution of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and the holding of elections.

In a Dec. 23 statement, Hamas, which won a landslide victory in the 2006 elections, rejected the court’s decision, condemning it as “worthless.”

Hamas’ military takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 led to the PLC disruption, which stopped convening throughout its four-year legal and constitutional mandate that ended on Jan. 25, 2010. After that, the PLC remained disrupted and no new elections were held because of the ongoing Palestinian division.

On Dec. 24, Abbas met with head of the Central Elections Committee Hanna Nasser at the presidential palace in Ramallah to discuss the implementation of the decision to hold the legislative elections.