BICOM

One Palestinian group has retracted its decision to participate in the Palestinian municipal elections, in October.

In a statement published yesterday, Islamic Jihad said it felt that the elections, scheduled for October 8, were not an “appropriate way out of the Palestinian national impasse“ and instead called for unity between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

The announcement followed a the surprising decision by Hamas last month to stand candidates in the municipal elections, which decide which parties control the cities and regions of the West Bank and Gaza. Seats in 400 councils are up for election.

Hamas boycotted the 2012 municipal elections in the West Bank and refused to hold them at all in Gaza. The decision by Hamas to participate this year, and to allow local elections in Gaza, has put pressure on Fatah, who are unprepared to fight contested seats against an organised rival.

Hamas is expected to stand technocrat candidates in the West Bank who may not be active Hamas members or politicians, and attack the incumbent Fatah candidates as corrupt insider politicians.

Fatah is attempting to get a grip on the party organisation, by insisting that their candidates do not stand against each other. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, Fatah members ignored the official selection procedures and ran competing slates, splitting the vote and allowing Hamas to benefit.

If Hamas makes significant gains in control of West Bank municipalities, it could negatively impact on security cooperation with the IDF.

In the run-up to the election, Fatah has made headline-grabbing announcements, such as the threat to sue the UK over the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

On Sunday, according to the Jerusalem Post, Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, told al-Quds  newspaper that the Palestinian Authority would seek to establish a municipal council for East Jerusalem. The announcement, which has little chance of being approved, was seen as another possible election stunt.