Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he will dissolve the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council, which has been largely defunct for over a decade due to the American-backed Fatah party’s lack of parliamentary strength.
Abbas’s announcement came following a decision by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Constitutional Court ordering the move.
The court ruling reportedly includes holding elections within six months of the parliament being dissolved.
“The issue reached the constitutional court which issued a verdict to dissolve the legislative council and call for legislative elections within six months, and this is what we must implement immediately,” Abbas said to members of the PA leadership on Saturday, according to AFP.
The PA parliament has not met since 2007, after Hamas won major electoral gains and expelled Abbas’s Fatah movement by force from the entire Gaza region.
PA law still allows for the parliamentary speaker to act as interim president should the 83-year-old Abbas die while in office.
Abbas just began the 14th year of his four year term as PA president. Although he has threatened to resign on several occasions, the United States has insisted that he remain in office. Abbas has long been a central component of Washington’s Middle East agenda and is widely perceived as representing Western interests in the region.
