GAZA CITY, Nov 28: A primary election organized by the ruling Palestinian party Fatah was halted throughout the Gaza Strip on Monday amid ‘serious violations’ and outbreaks of violence, officials and witnesses said. The decision to indefinitely postpone voting in all five constituencies in the territory was taken by a Fatah committee overseeing the primary to select candidates for the first Palestinian parliamentary election in a decade.

“Because of the serious violations which prevent the continuation of the process, the committee decided to halt the primaries in all districts in Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.

No new date was given. It was the second time Fatah primaries in the Gaza Strip — originally scheduled for Friday — have been delayed.

Although Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has repeatedly vowed to clamp down on rampant chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, gunmen and private militias continue to act with impunity.

Abbas’s Fatah, which has dominated parliament and the cabinet for a decade, faces a fierce challenge from Hamas in the January 25 elections, when the group contests its first legislative ballot.

Fatah initially suspended vote in four constituencies on Monday after armed men stormed into polling stations, set fire to ballot boxes and torched tyres to disrupt the process.—AFP