Palestine electoral panel visits Gaza to talk to Hamas

By Qays Abu Samra</p> <p>RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Members of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Electoral Commission visited the blockaded Gaza Strip on Wednesday to discuss upcoming Palestinian legislative polls with Hamas, which has governed the strip since 2007.</p> <p>Delegation members are slated to meet with leading Hamas officials — including Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the group’s political bureau — later Thursday.</p> <p>In December, President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that the Palestinian Constitutional Court had dissolved the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) and had called for legislative elections — throughout the Palestinian territories — within six months.</p> <p>Hamas, for its part, has challenged the legitimacy of the alleged court ruling, which it says was illegally influenced by Abbas.