PM Haniyeh invites electoral commission to register Gazan voters

Haniyeh’s Hamas previously banned voter registers Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has invited the Palestinian Authority’s Central Elections Commission into the Gaza Strip, a government spokesman announced, in what some observers have recognised as a significant step towards meaningful national reconciliation between Palestinian factions.
Haniyeh reportedly telephoned Central Elections Commission [CEC] chief Hanna Nasser to invite a delegation to Gaza to discuss updating voter registration lists, Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said in a statement on Thursday.
Al-Nunu said the invitation was in line with interfactional agreements reached between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo earlier this month.
Last week, Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal officially agreed to implement previous reconciliation deals during a Cairo meeting, according to a January 30 deadline to form a national unity government headed by Abbas.
The new government will be comprised of technocrats and other dignitaries not affiliated with Hamas or Fatah, and will serve an interim period to supervise subsequent parliamentary and presidential elections.
Hamas sources told Arabstoday the CEC would resume work updating voter registration in Gaza by the end of the month.
Electoral lists have not been updated in Gaza since the last local elections were held in January 2005.
In July 2012, Hamas suspended the CEC's work one day before it was due to register voters in Gaza, citing the continued arrest of Hamas members in the West Bank and questions over the commission's impartiality.  
A CEC spokesperson said that the commission would need up to three weeks to conclude its work in Gaza.
The latest development is expected to push forward the formation of a long-awaited national unity government, after years of interfactional divisions between Fatah and Hamas.