Mahmoud al-Aloul, vice president of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, on Thursday met with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, to discuss steps to facilitate the PA elections.
The two discussed the latest developments on holding general elections in “Palestine”, and the means to allow the elections to take place in eastern Jerusalem as they did in 1996, 2005 and 2006, according to a statement by al-Aloul's office quoted by the Xinhua news agency.
Mounir Jaghoub, a Fatah spokesman, told Xinhua that the meeting came as part of "Palestinian efforts to hold elections in East Jerusalem."
"It is not expected that Israel would easily allow Palestinian elections to take place in Jerusalem. That is why we are increasing our diplomatic endeavors," he said.
In a tweet after the meeting, Mladenov expressed the UN's "continuing efforts to support Palestinians in realizing their right to elect their leaders."
Abbas recently renewed a pledge to hold fresh parliamentary elections, which have not been held since 2006 when Hamas won an overwhelming majority.
On Monday, the PA chairman made clear that the elections will not take place if Israel does not allow Palestinian Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem to vote.
Abbas' term as PA chairman was meant to expire in 2009, but he has remained in office in the absence of elections.
His Fatah faction declared last month that the 84-year-old will be its “sole candidate” in the election.