UN welcomes call for elections in Palestine and offers support

The United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, welcomed this Saturday the elections called in Palestine by its president, Mahmoud Abbas, and offered the organisation's support so that the Palestinians can go to the polls.

"The Secretary-General welcomes the presidential decree issued yesterday by President Mahmoud Abbas to hold legislative, presidential and Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections this year, starting in May," Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Guterres called on the Palestinian authorities to "facilitate, strengthen and support the political participation of women during the electoral cycle" and added that the UN is "ready to support the efforts of the Palestinian people to be able to exercise their democratic rights".

Abbas signed this Friday the decree to hold the first elections in the Palestinian territories since 2006, a process that begins on 22 May with the legislative elections, continues on 31 July with the presidential elections and ends on 31 August with the representative elections of the PNC.

"The holding of elections in the occupied West Bank, including the eastern part of Jerusalem and Gaza, will be a crucial step towards Palestinian unity, giving renewed legitimacy to the national institutions, including a democratically elected parliament and government in Palestine," Guterres said.

The secretary general said he hoped the elections would contribute to "restarting the process for a negotiated two-state solution based on the pre-1976 borders" and in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, bilateral agreements and international law.

The decree calling for elections was issued after the nationalist Fatah party led by Abbas and the Islamist movement Hamas, which governs de facto in Gaza, reached a pact at the beginning of January and undertook to leave behind the differences that have dragged on for over a decade.