The Palestinian Authority has indefinitely postponed local elections which had been expected to take place in October in the West Bank, a minister told AFP on Monday.
"President (Mahmud) Abbas issued a decree postponing the local elections indefinitely to pave the way for internal Palestinian reconciliation," local government minister Khaled al-Qawasmi told AFP.
Local elections had originally been scheduled for July 9 but following a surprise reconciliation deal between Abbas' Fatah and the rival Hamas movement which was signed in early May, the date was put back to October 22.
As the deal struggled to get off the ground, Palestinian officials told AFP in July that local elections would be limited to the West Bank as Hamas was hampering preparations for the vote in Gaza.
In response, Hamas had accused Fatah of failing to reform the Central Elections Commission -- a condition of the reconciliation deal.
Hamas and Fatah have been at loggerheads for years but their rivalry turned bloody in 2007, when the Islamists forced Fatah out of the Gaza Strip.
