Hamas rejected Tuesday a Palestinian Central Elections Commission proposal to put off the July 17 legislative elections.

"The elections cannot be delayed for narrow partisan interests," Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Hamas spokesman in the West Bank told reporters.

CEC proposed Monday to postpone the elections citing logistic and legal reasons.

CEC said there is not enough time for it to prepare for the elections. What's more, a new election law has not approved.

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has approved the third and last reading of the new election law, but Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has not endorsed it due to differences with the PLC over proportional representation.

The PLC supports that one-third of the 132 parliament seats are elected by proportional representation and two-thirds by constituency. While Abbas wants a 100 percent proportional representation.

Under Palestinian law, Abbas can make recommendations to the law. The PLC is obliged to accept them unless two thirds of the PLC members oppose.

Mustafa al-Barghouthi, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, also criticized the postponement.

He said the PLC members are wasting precious time that should have been used in ratifying a new law, expressing regrets that the majority of the PLC members place their personal interests above the higher national interests.

Bassam al-Salhi, General Secretary of the Palestinian People's Party, warned delaying the elections will undermine the credibility of the Palestinian institutions, including the PLC.

Source: Xinhua