The new Palestinian cabinet sworn in this week is illegitimate and cannot hold or oversee elections, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri charged on Thursday.
"Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's call for municipal elections at this time is unacceptable," Zuhri said according to Hamas-affiliate Al-Resalah. Zuhri slammed the PA for forming a new cabinet because it falls outside of the Doha agreement, signed by Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the Qatari capital last February, which called for the formation of a "national consensus government to oversee elections."
Hamas does not figure into the new Palestinian cabinet, underlining the failure of this past years so-called reconciliation agreements that sought to unify the schismatic Palestinian leadership in Gaza and the West Bank.
The new cabinet, under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, is illegitimate to hold elections, Zuhri charged, accusing the new government of corruption.
Zuhri called on Abbas to honor the deal signed in Doha, and implement "what was listed" as the formation of a national consensus government that will be responsible for conducting parliamentary and, eventually, presidential elections.
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