CAIRO - Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas said Tuesday he will issue a decree later this week for January 24 elections, in a move apparently meant to press democratically elected Hamas into signing a unity deal.
"I will issue a presidential decree after several days, on October 25, designating January 24 as the date of the elections," Egypt's state-run news agency MENA quoted Abbas as saying.
Abbas, whose presidential term expired in early 2009, left the door open however for Hamas to ink the Egypt-brokered deal later on, in comments made during a closed meeting with newspaper editors during a visit to Egypt.
If Hamas signed the unity deal after Sunday's decree, "we will issue another decree to conduct the elections on June 28," the date proposed by the Egyptian-mediated deal, the Fatah leader said.
The elections would normally be held by January 25.
Abbas was in Cairo on for talks with President Hosni Mubarak after the signing of the unity deal with Hamas was put on hold.
"Fatah completely supported the Egyptian proposal... but then Hamas put down obstacles to achieving a reconciliation," Abbas told reporters after meeting the Egyptian leader, in the latest salvo in a war of words with Hamas.
Fatah has signed a draft accord drawn up by Egypt but Hamas has repeatedly postponed its official response, saying it needs more time to consider the deal.
"We don't want to say that we have completely stopped moving forward on the reconciliation issue," Abbas told reporters.
"We are forced, according to the constitution, to announce before October 25 the date of elections so that elections are held before next January 25," he said.
Hamas has blamed the delay in signing the deal on what it said were inconsistencies between the final Egyptian draft and what the Palestinian factions had agreed on in marathon talks in Cairo during the year.
Egypt has signalled it is losing patience with Hamas and said the final draft was not up for negotiation.
The elections would be for parliament and the presidency and would take place in the West Bank and Gaza.
In the last parliamentary elections in 2006, Hamas won an upset victory over Fatah.
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