Hamas knocks Abbas for Christian election quota

Hamas rips into Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for a decree creating a quota for Christian representatives in the upcoming municipal elections across the Palestinian territories.

Abbas issued a presidential decree Monday requiring nine West Bank municipal districts to have a Christian majority in the local council, and that the head of those councils must be Christian. A total of 67 out of the 3,848 seats up for election were guaranteed to Christians.

Hamas, in a statement posted on their website, calls the decree “a violation of the electoral process and an attempt to influence the outcome.”

The Palestinian municipal elections are slated to take place October 8 and will be held in 416 townships and village councils; 25 are located in Gaza and the other 391 in the West Bank.

— Dov Lieber