A senior leader of the Palestinian ruling Fatah movement said on Tuesday that the group will try to avoid conflict with the Islamic Resistance group Hamas over election disputes.

Samir Masharawi told reporters that Fatah welcomed the efforts by the visiting Egyptian delegation to ease tensions between the two main factions rising from recent courts' rulings to annul results of the second stage of local elections in some Gaza areas where Hamas claimed victory.

"Fatah welcomes any effort to get rid of the tension," Masharawi said.

He also said Fatah decided to turn to the court to solve the disputes with Hamas while stressing the importance to respect the courts' ruling.

Initial result showed that Fatah won control of 50 of the 84 municipal councils in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank while Hamas secured some 30 in the May 5 elections.

Hamas rejected court decisions last week to annul municipal election results in three areas in the Gaza Strip where Fatah complained about irregularities by Hamas supporters.

Source: Xinhua