Hamas govt urges reform of elections commission

The Hamas-led government in Gaza on Wednesday called for the reform of the Central Elections Commission, and said the body charged with updating the voter registry was imbalanced. Hamas on Monday suspended the commission's work, a day before it was due to start updating the electoral roll in Gaza. The move, a further setback to overdue elections, was criticized by the PA, the PLO, factions and rights groups. In its weekly meeting, the government in Gaza said the CEC must be reformed so it could start work, and called on Fatah to abide by its obligations under the reconciliation agreement signed by the factions in May 2011. Earlier in the week, Hamas said it suspended voter registration in Gaza because of Fatah's ongoing detention of Hamas members in the West Bank. Both parties had agreed to stop political detentions in the unity deal. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said the CEC was dominated by Fatah members, effectively allowing the party to supervise the electoral process. The commission's director Hisham Kahil responded that the 500 staff employed to update the voter registry in Gaza were selected by the Hamas-run Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, ministers in Gaza congratulated Egypt's newly-elected President Muhammad Mursi and stressed their commitment to full cooperation with Cairo on political, security and economic levels.