Abbas demands Haneya to present his cabinet to PLC for confidence vote

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sent a letter to Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haneya asking him to present his new Hamas-led cabinet to the parliament for a confidence vote, Secretary General of the Palestinian Presidency Tayeb Abdel Rahim said on Saturday.

Speaking to a news conference in Ramallah, Abbdel Rahim said that Abbas informed Haneya that his cabinet was accepted and he can take it to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to get the parliament's confidence.

He clarified that Haneya earlier on Saturday met with presidency's bureau chief Adnan Husseini at the Gaza headquarters and received Abbas' letter.

Abdel Rahim added that after examining the cabinet's formation and following the decisions of Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO) executive committee, Abbas preferred to send a letter to Haneya.

However, the PLO rejected Haneya's cabinet's political platform which declined to recognize it as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Abbas expressed his sorry that Haneya's cabinet did not consider what came in Abbas' speech he addressed before the PLC and in his letter of commission he handed over to Haneya, according to Abdel Rahim.

Hamas is poised to form the next Palestinian cabinet after its landslide parliamentary election victory two moths ago, but its line-up must first win the approval of President Abbas, who is also chairman of the PLO.

Source: Xinhua