Mahmoud Abbas thinks that elections are a good idea, only so long as he knows he’s going to win.
In a radical departure from the position he has held since Hamas took over Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas now maintains that legislative and presidential elections should not be held until the West Bank and Gaza are reunited under a single leadership. His prime minister, Salam Fayyad, worded this more explicitly. Holding these elections should be linked to “the end to the manifestations of the military coup” and the resumption of Abu Mazen’s control over Gaza.
A sentiment he shares with the US and Israel, who for some strange reason, have forgotten there were democratic elections held in 2006.