Mahmoud Abbas announces first-ever parliamentary elections

RAMALLAH — President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that elections to the Palestinian National Council (PNC) will be held on November 1, the official Wafa news agency reported.This would be the first time members of the PLO parliament are elected by popular vote, rather than being appointed.“Elections will be held wherever possible, both inside and outside Palestine, to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they reside,” Abbas said in a decree.Abbas, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organizaion (PLO) and the governing Palestinian Authority (PA), had previously held off on elections unless everybody in occupied Palestine was allowed to vote.Critics have accused him of making excuses to avoid losing in presidential elections, as polls showed his popularity declining. He has also been criticized over security agreements with Israel that have resulted in crackdowns in refugee camps, most notably in Jenin.The PNC has long served as the PLO’s parliament in exile.It is dominated by Fatah, Abbas’s political movement, which was co-founded by Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004. — Agencies